Gender Pay Gap Employer Statement

Our commitment to gender equality

Charles Sturt University is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce where our staff feel valued and empowered when they come to work. We are building a workplace culture that provides dignity and respect to all and encourages the sharing of ideas and perspectives that value everyone’s differences. We want our staff to feel safe and supported in the workplace and to be able to thrive at work. We recognise that gender equity is a complex area and are focused on improving our systems and removing barriers to address gender pay equity, removing workplace discrimination and educating and empowering our workforce to create positive change to support gender equality. A new Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Plan, developed in consultation with stakeholders from all levels of the organisation, is being implemented with a range of actions designed to foster a positive, respectful and inclusive workplace and to ensure that gender equity remains central in our work towards an inclusive culture at Charles Sturt.

We currently hold the Athena Swan Bronze Award, the only internationally recognised framework for gender equity, diversity and inclusion, and are working toward Silver accreditation through the Cygnet program. We are also updating and redesigning a range of programs and initiatives to support our female staff, as well as those from other key diversity areas as outlined in our Actions and Strategies: Next Steps section below.

It is important to note that our current Vice Chancellor is female and 69% of the Charles Sturt University governing board (University Council) are female which is not represented in WGEA gender pay gap figures.

The gender pay gap at Charles Sturt University

Table 1. The gender pay gap at Charles Sturt University on the snapshot date of 31 March 2022 compared to other Australian higher education providers.

Table 1 shows the gender pay gap at Charles Sturt University at 31 March 2023 (WGEA reporting snapshot date). The industry comparison column compares the gender pay gap at Charles Sturt University with other Australian higher education providers.

This demonstrates that while Charles Sturt’s Gender pay gap for average total remuneration and average base salary is better than the industry comparison, which reflects our sustained effort to recruit, retain and support female staff, the median figures are impacted by the skew caused by the large number of female staff in positions with comparatively lower salaries. Figure 1 shows the proportion/percentage of female and male staff across the Charles Sturt workforce and WGEA pay quartiles, illustrating the impact on median (midpoint) figures.

Figure 1. Percentage of female and male staff across Charles Sturt’s workforce and WGEA pay quartiles.

Table 1 demonstrates the gender pay gap for average total remuneration and average base salary at Charles Sturt is less than other Australian higher education providers.

The gender pay gap for median total remuneration and median base salary are higher at Charles Sturt compared to other Australian higher education providers (Table 1). This difference is driven by the high proportion of female staff in non-management roles (Table 2) which typically sit within the lower and middle WGEA pay quartiles (Figure 1). This is also impacted by the high numbers of female staff members who work in casual and part-time roles. 66% of the total workforce at Charles Sturt are female (Figure 1) and comprise a large proportion of the casual (25% of total) and part-time (12% of total) workforce at Charles Sturt (Figure 2).

Figure 2.  Total workforce at Charles Sturt showing proportions of women and men in casual, part-time and full-time employment.

Table 2. Key management and non-management roles at Charles Sturt University by gender on WGEA snapshot date

*Key Management consists of 8 executive leadership team staff (excluding our female CEO). Three staffing changes within this group shifted the balance from 60% female in 2021.

While female staff are well represented in middle management positions, senior leadership and senior academic roles are dominated by male staff at this point in time. It is important to note that because this is a relatively small number of staff, the balance of male to female staff in leadership roles is prone to change with normal staff attrition and movement. It is projected that these figures will improve in line with the initiatives currently being implemented to encourage and support the career growth of females in our organisation.

Gender pay gap drivers at Charles Sturt University

As demonstrated by WGEA’s pay gap analyses, the Australian higher education sector is a female dominated industry. This is reflected at Charles Sturt which has a high percentage of female staff (more than 70%) in the lower middle and lower pay quartiles.

A large proportion of Charles Sturt’s female workforce are working casually or part-time.

There is a higher percentage of males than females in senior leadership roles.

There are double the number of males at academic level E (highest academic level, 69% male).

Actions and strategies: Next steps

Charles Sturt University considers gender equity as fundamental to our organisation and are implementing actions to remove barriers for women in the workplace, to support the career goals of our female staff and to address our gender pay gap including with the initiatives outlined below:

Our Academic Promotions Process has been overhauled to simplify application requirements and includes the option of completing an Equal Employment Opportunity statement that allows for consideration of factors that impact opportunities for academic achievement including: taking maternity or parental leave, having caring responsibilities for children or other family members, needing to work part-time due to caring responsibilities, and the disadvantages inherent for females working in male dominated fields.

Employee Networks for key diversity areas have been implemented including Gender and Carers Networks. The purpose of the Networks is to provide connection, support, knowledge and guidance on University initiatives and facilitate increased awareness of the barriers faced by female staff members. Each Network is championed by University senior leaders who have committed to advocating for the unique concerns and needs of employees, and especially female employees.

We currently have Bronze accreditation and are working towards Athena Swan Silver Accreditation withsupport and growth of key diversity groups, including women in leadership and academia as a priority. Our Silver Cygnets include initiatives that will: increase support and mentorship for women in the academic promotions process, renew our focus on supporting carers during and after parental leave and as carers of people other than children, provide further flexibility and accessibility provisions including implementing Menstruation and Menopause Leave to support female staff and those who experience symptoms associated with female anatomy, introduce new systems and scope for capturing and analysing data that considers the intersectionality of our workforce, especially for our female and gender diverse employees as well as staff from other key diversity groups.

Our Transforming Talent initiative is designed to address teaching workloads and casualisation levels through the recruitment of additional positions. We are recruiting 60-70 additional continuing teaching and research positions and are promoting these opportunities to our part time and casual staff. Fixed term and casual sessional staff, the majority of whom are female, will continue to be a valued part of our workforce, with this scheme creating job security and opportunities for interested and qualified fixed term and casual sessional staff.

An updated Employee Development and Review Scheme will help us to identify the career aspirations and professional development goals of our employees in order to offer them the guidance, direction, and support to navigate diverse career pathways and undertake development opportunities. In addition, we are refreshing our Capability Framework, Professional Development Program, Management and Leadership Development. This will help to create a talent pipeline and provide opportunities to implement leadership training and mentor programs for female staff.