Gender equity and our continued commitment
As the leading consumer advocacy group in Australia, CHOICE is committed to building a diverse, equal and inclusive organisational culture. We recognise and value the diversity of our workforce and ensure our staff know they are valued and respected, and have equal access to resources and opportunities to contribute to our organisation’s growth.
From the very beginning, 66 years ago, when our organisation was founded by the trailblazing consumer advocate Ruby Hutchinson, we are proud of the progress we are making towards gender equality. For 2024–25, the CHOICE gender pay gap is lower than both the Australian Private Sector average and the Information Media and Telecommunications industry average.
Gender pay gap drivers
The three main contributors to the gender pay gap in Australia continue to be gender discrimination: care; family responsibilities and workforce participation; and gender segregation by job type. CHOICE’s results against key gender equality indicators show that we continue to make progress in improving pay equity across the organisation.
Our overall workforce gender composition for the 2024–25 reporting period shows a breakdown of 52% women and 48% men. The analysis shows women are slightly underrepresented in management level roles (49% women vs 51% men); however, they have higher representation in non-management roles (53% women vs 47% men). Compared to 2023–24 WGEA reporting, women had lower representation in both management and non-management roles. With the exception of the Executive team, our workforce composition has a higher proportion of women at all levels across the organisation in comparison to the Information Media and Telecommunications industry division.
One of the main drivers for the gender pay gap is the uneven composition of employees in part-time and casual roles. Compared to our peer industry group, we have a much higher proportion of men working part-time, both in management roles (14% compared with 2%) and non-management roles (18% compared with 3%).
In the 2024–25 period, women made up the majority of the CHOICE Board, with 63% women and 38% men. This is a significantly higher proportion than our industry Comparison Group, where women represent 33% and men 67%.
The strong gender balance at the Board level reflects CHOICE’s broader commitment to supporting equal workforce participation and shared caring responsibilities across the organisation. CHOICE offers generous, gender-neutral parental leave that is more favourable than our industry standard. In the 2024–25 period, all employees who took parental leave were men, while in our Comparison Group parental leave was only taken by women.
Our strategies and initiatives
CHOICE is committed to providing equal opportunities at work, for people of all genders. From hiring through to pay, promotion, retention and career development, we aim to treat people fairly and create an inclusive workplace. This commitment is reinforced through our policies and the practical ways that we support gender equality.
CHOICE continues to meet the majority of WGEA’s recommendations through the implementation of clear formal policies, strategies, reporting and support mechanisms that support gender equality. This includes having flexible work as part of our everyday way of working, with our leaders modelling this through their own actions. We offer gender-neutral parental leave and equitable leave entitlements for all employees. Everyone has equal access to training, development and career progression, and we are transparent about how our pay is structured. We also have strong policies and processes to support employees affected by domestic and family violence, sex-or gender-based harassment and discrimination, with clear resources to help managers respond effectively.
We are proud of the progress we have made, and the steps and measures we have taken and remain focused on improving. We continue to review and improve our policies, pay practices and recruitment processes to help move towards closing the gender pay gap and further strengthen equality across our organisation. We are also strengthening leadership accountability for gender equality by setting clear expectations around gender balance, and using better data to track progress across every stage of employment, as part of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy.
Why does CHOICE undertake an annual WGEA audit?
As an employer of more than 100 employees, CHOICE is required to report annually to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) in accordance with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. This reporting aims to improve gender equality outcomes in our workplace, help us understand CHOICE’s position in relation to national benchmarks, identify opportunities for further improvement, and strengthen our ongoing gender equality initiatives.
Gender pay gap explained
The gender pay gap is a measure of how we value the contribution of women and men in the workforce, expressed as a percentage, showing the difference between the earnings of women and men. This is not the same as equal pay. Gender pay gaps are not a comparison of like roles. Instead, they show the difference between the average or median pay of women and men across organisations, industries and the workforce as a whole.
WGEA publishes both average and median gender pay gaps. Measuring gender pay gaps by median allows us to understand the remuneration experience of the typical employee at a workplace, as it is not skewed by exceptionally high or low salaries. The average gender pay gap is a good measure of the collective remuneration of a group. As the average is skewed by exceptionally high or low salaries, it will show if earnings are particularly concentrated for one gender, for example, more men in higher earning positions. The target range for the median gender pay gap is + or – 5%.