Nursing — women make up 90% of workforce, still waiting for equal pay

Despite making up almost 90% of nursing workforce, female nurses face a pay gap of 4–13% compared to men in the profession.

Wages and work conditions for Australian nurses are controlled via an enterprise agreement made under the Fair Work Act, but a new Edith Cowan University (ECU) study has reported that at the six-month mark there was a gap of 4% and at the three-year mark, it reached 13%.

“In this study, men at three years earned $39.50 per hour, compared to women who earned $38 per hour,” ECU Research Fellow Dr Gemma Doleman said.

The findings indicate that men could be receiving penalty payments associated with working weekends and non-sociable hours, with women partaking in Doleman’s study working on average 32 hours a week while the men who worked 36 hours a week.

The study also found that the gender wage gap widens with age or work experience, with female nurses aged over 26 years experiencing a wage gap of 5% and 16% at the six-month and three-year mark, respectively.

Nurses in the public sector are likely to receive higher remuneration than those working in the private or not-for-profit sector.

Furthermore, research has found that men are being promoted more quickly following graduation and that there are a disproportionate number of men sitting in executive roles within healthcare institutions.

“Research on nursing career trajectories suggests that men experience a faster rate of career progression compared to women and are over-represented in senior positions in comparison to the proportion of men in the workforce. In addition, the cohort of men had an average age of 35 years in this study, which may also suggest that they have undertaken previous study and work that resulted in them reporting being overqualified more than women upon graduation,” Doleman said.

What does this mean for nursing management?

The Australian Government has projected a shortfall of around 70,000 nurses by 2035.

Doleman said that in order to address this demand, and given Australia’s adherence to traditional gender role ideologies where men are considered to be the major ‘breadwinners’, healthcare institutions should consider alternative working arrangements for female nurses.

“There are a range of flexible work environments that can be considered, including alternative shifts away from the traditional 8–12 hours, shorter shifts, or job sharing could offer more opportunities,” she said.

“The introduction of new roles in telehealth, which offers nurses the possibility of remote working, or using experienced nurses to onboard new graduates at family-friendly times, can also be used to support the workforce.

“Nurses may not enter the workforce anticipating large salaries, but they do wish to be paid appropriately, and research has long shown a strong association between pay rates, job satisfaction and retention of nurses within the workforce.”

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