An Australian energy company has agreed to give hundreds of its female employees a pay rise to ensure they are paid the same as their male counterparts.
According to Catherine Tanna, managing director of Energy Australia it’s “not right or fair to expect women to have to wait any longer for the pay gap to close – so, we’re fixing that right now,” said in a statement.
An estimated 350 women at the company are set to receive a one-off adjustment to their salaries. The average increase will be around 3,500 Australian dollars (£1,970).
In addition, about 80 men who earn less than colleagues doing the same job will also get a salary rise.
The move is set to add an extra 1.2 million Australian dollars (£675,432) to the firm’s annual salary bill. Energy Australia said the new pay packages will go into effect next month, closing the company’s current two per cent gender pay gap.
Australian women earn on average 84 cents for every dollar that men earn, according to government figures.
Iceland made it illegal to pay women less than men at the beginning of this year. Companies within the Nordic country now require equal pay certification from the government.
Iceland ranks first among 144 countries for gender equality across politics, education, pay and health policies, according the World Economic Forum’s annual report.
