bove-average pay gaps even though their workforces and customer bases are largely made up of women.  This year, the WGEA again made its data publicly available, inviting year-on-year comparisons to see which businesses have improved and which have gone backwards.  For instance, the ABC reported that Sussan, Lovisa and Decjuba have reduced their gender pay gaps, and Lorna Jane essentially has eliminated its pay gap, while Pandora, Forever New, Seafolly and Fast Future Brands, the owner of Temt and Valleygirl, have seen their pay gaps get worse.  Overall, the gender pay gap in retail went from 7.1 per cent in 2024 to 6 per cent in 2025 – just outside the target range of +/- 5 per cent.  But the topline numbers don’t tell the whole story. A more nuanced picture As data expert and GPC Apac’s head of digital analytics and optimisation Marieke Van Bruggen explained in a series of posts on LinkedIn, last year’s WGEA reporting was based on the median gender pay gap. This year, the agency also provided the mean gender pay gap.  While they are both averages, the median figure gives a better indication of the distribution of men and women across salary levels, and the mean figure demonstrates the impact of executive salaries on the pay gap.  “A median [gender pay gap] GPG is usually relatively easier to achieve for most retailers when the majority of retail staff are on award wages or EBAs,” Van Bruggen told Inside Retail.  “The average, mean, can be more representative of the overall wage gap but is also influenced by the above-average salaries of the CEO and senior executives. So, if these people are predominantly male, the business will have a high average pay gap – see, Country Road, Adairs, Michael Hill.”  She noted that many retailers that publicly acknowledged their low median gender pay gaps last year have been noticeably quiet this year – presumably because their mean pay gap paints a different picture. However, as she explained, neither the median nor the mean figure tells the whole story of a retailer’s gender pay gap.  The WGEA reporting also includes pay quartiles for each business; that is, the percentage of male and female employees who fall into the upper, upper middle, lower middle and lower quartiles of the pay scale.  To understand what is driving an organisation’s pay gap – or to see if the organisation is truly as gender-equal as its pay gap figures would suggest – you need to look at this data.  “Both [average] numbers, along with the quartile distributions, work together to tell more of a nuanced story than one number alone,” Van Bruggen said.  For instance, while she applauded the overall improvement in retail’s gender pay gap, she said “it would be great if more retailers could raise the good, bad and ugly of their pay gap numbers and highlight the action steps they’re taking to address it”. This could include encouraging more men to join the business at lower pay levels and more women to move into higher-paid roles, by supporting frontline staff to retrain in areas like digital and technology.  “A female CEO wouldn’t hurt either – I know plenty of women who would jump at the opportunity!” the data expert said.  Starting the conversation The key takeaway from Van Bruggen’s deep dive into this year’s WGEA data is that retailers need to look at all their metrics on gender equality, not just the top-line ones. However, she also acknowledged the power of the gender pay gap, particularly when it’s high, to motivate organisations to change. “While fixating on the number itself may seem an exercise in ‘ticking boxes’, focusing on changing the number can start conversations,” she said.  “Why are more men not taking up entry-level roles in retail businesses? What are organisations doing to provide promotional pathways for women?”