Companies in the UK with more than 250 employees will be forced to reveal their pay gap, thanks to new regulations that will affect about 8,000 employers.
The nation's women and equalities minister Nicky Morgan says firms that don't address the differences in pay between male and female employees will be highlighted in new league tables.
According to the BBC, Morgan said employers must also publish their gender pay gap on their websites every year. The top senior executives will be expected to sign off the figures personally.
It's not just adland that is plagued with issues around the gender divide, and while the topic has risen to the forefront recently, steps to actually address factors like the pay divide, could improve if companies Down Under were also forced to share the salaries of its workers.
Both private companies and voluntary organisations will be required to reveal the number of men and women in each pay range to show where pay gaps are at their widest.
The BBC added that Morgan noted that women and men must be recognised equally and fairly in every workplace so there was "nowhere for gender inequality to hide".
Businesses in the UK will need to start working on calculating the pay gap from April 2017, a year ahead of the first tables being published.
According to the Australian Government Workplace and Gender Equality Agency, based on data collected in May 2015, the full-time gender pay gap in Australia sits at 17.9%. In the UK women still earn on average 20% less than men.
Between May 2014 and May 2015 it found the gender pay gap within the Information Media and Telecommunications sector had increased by 1.8 percentage points to 21.3%
In a study it conducted late last year, the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency said of the one in four organisations that conducted a pay gap analysis, one in two took action to address their gender pay gap.
Should the offending firms also have to “explain” why pay gaps exist? Will the new standards in the UK pave the way for a similar structure in Australia and will the reporting of such data help prompt other companies to ask the right questions and to look at their own gender pay divides?
Or, is the culture of naming and shaming a bad idea? Comment below and share your views.
In the wake of news that an advocacy group in the US has created its own unique answer to closing the gender gap in adland's leadership ranks last November, AdNews asked several Australian industry leaders what they make of the scheme and its chances of creating change. Check out US gender gap certification plan – the Australian view.
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