THE gender pay gap is a myth.Every year, twice a year — on International Women’s Day and today, so-called Equal Pay Day — figures are trotted out that show on average, women earn less than men, as if this is somehow a scandal in need of urgent action.According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, this year the “gender pay gap” figure is 16.2 per cent, down from 18.5 per cent in 2014.“Women working fulltime need to work more than 14 months on average to earn the same as men earn in a year,” WGEA director Libby Lyons said.“Over a lifetime, compounded by time out of the workforce due to caring responsibilities, the gender pay gap contributes to greatly reduced lifetime earnings and retirement savings. On average, women retire with just half the superannuation savings of men.”But this is an incredible oversimplification.“There are individual forces about what industries people want to work in, for example mining, where there is a certain modicum of danger money that’s available.

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