A new study conducted for Diversity Council Australia (DCA) and the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace agency (EOWA) shows that 64 per cent of Australians wrongly think that pay equity means equal pay for men and women who are doing the same job.   Just 14 per cent of people agreed with the correct idea that pay equity means equal pay for men and women doing different but equivalent jobs, according the the survey results released last month.

The problem for women who often hold the majority of support roles and shared services functions in organisations - including HR and marketing roles - is that these roles while seen as "less valuable" to the organisation often require a comparable skill level and therefore should be remunerated as such, says the DCA.

A full copy of the report can be accessed here from the Diversity Council of Australia website.