Australia’s gender pay gap is 18.2%,  the largest it’s been in twenty years. But according to new research from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency released today, 73.7% of organisations have not yet done a gender pay gap analysis, a step it believes could help to significantly address pay inequity.

So WGEA is separating those who appear to be accepting the gender pay gap if a problem within their organisations from those who are not via a new campaign to raise awareness on the issue.

It’s named 32 chief executives who’ve signed up as ambassadors to use their voice in urging all businesses to make pay equity a priority. By 30 September 2015, it hopes to have 100 chiefs involved.

One such CEO is AGL CEO Michael Fraser, who explained in a statement to Women’s Agenda why he decided to get involved:

“I decided to become a pay equity ambassador because it’s untenable to think that in the twenty-first century, we would not be paying equal pay for equal work. But I have come to realise, that unless we continually analyse our HR data and systems and validate the basis of our decisions as they relate to employees, we will continue to see gender inequity in business. AGL Energy Limited (AGL) conducts an annual pay equity analysis and did so most recently in June 2014.  Gender pay equity analytics and reporting are embedded in AGL’s remuneration systems to ensure gender equity is at the forefront of leaders’ remuneration decisions.”

Fraser added that his executive team follow up to ensure pay decisions consider the gender inequality areas that have been identified through the analysis, and the organisation monitors gender pay equity through a number of different internal forums. AGL is also developing its pipeline of female talent by offering flexible roles and career paths, while also promoting women leaders.

WGEA is sending bottles of ‘daughter water’ to more than 3,000 across the country.

A number of the above CEOs released statements to WGEA on why they’re getting involved in the campaign. See their responses below

Pip Marlow, Managing Director of Microsoft: “A country’s national competitiveness is largely defined by its workforce so it makes no sense, especially for a country with Australia’s small population, to limit or constrain the contribution of over 50% of its people.  Just as in business, we need to attract the best talent and retain the best talent so there is no room for gender bias in remuneration and performance management decisions. I call on all business leaders to commit to eliminating gender bias – it’s just good business.”

Jim Minto, CEO of TAL: “We have raised the bar for other employers that pay equity is achievable if priority is given to it. TAL has also sent a clear message to the community that we are a values-driven organisation. Being asked to become a Pay Equity Ambassador is an honour and I hope the example we have set at TAL will motivate other employers to address pay equity and produce fairer outcomes for staff.”

Steven Sewell, CEO of Federation Centres: “Recognising performance and rewarding it in an equitable manner is fundamental to creating a high-performing organisation. Eliminating gender bias is a crucial component in getting the best from all your people.”

Wayne Spanner, Managing Partner of Norton Rose Fulbright: “The CEO has to own this issue otherwise you don’t achieve change. Addressing pay equity underpins our diversity success, and understanding and addressing unconscious bias is a critical component. You need to audit the relevant data to know where the issues are and take action.”

Peter Bailey, CEO of Arup: “If we weren’t doing it we would be at odds with what we stand for. Fairness is fundamental to our business. We’d be living a lie if we didn’t act.”

Kim Rueben writes;  Standard and Poor’s got a lot of attention last week for a study that concluded that rising income inequality is damaging state tax revenues. State tax revenue growth has slowed in recent decades and income inequality has grown, but the story is far more complicated than S&P suggests.

Factors effecting state tax revenues irrespective of the change in income distriution:

1.  More of what we are buying is tax free.

2.  Taxes have been reduced on the rich.

Some states are beginning to counter those trends. We’ve seen a recent return to higher top rates in California, New York and other states. At the same time, however, some states such as Kansas are cutting their statutory rates. Many of those changes are so new they are not reflected in the S&P data.

Three decades ago both the federal and most state codes were indexed and inflation rates fell. As a result, the phenomenon known as bracket creep became a less valuable source of tax revenue.    S&P’s Conclusions on State Tax Revenue and Inequality

A recent Credit Suisse report shows that women on board add value.

Companies that have female directors out perform those that only have men.

Companies with a market cap greater than US$ 10 billion that have at least one woman on the board of directors outperformed those that had no women at all by 26% for large caps over the six years leading up to 2011.  “Importantly, this mix of companies would also have outperformed global equities as measured by MSCI’s ACWI,” write Credit Suisse analysts Julia Dawson, Richard Kersley and Stefano Natella.

This is a global phenomenon.

From 2012 to June 2014, companies with at least one woman on the board have seen a 5% outperformance on a sector neutral basis.

That amounts to a compound excess return since 2005 of 3.3%.

Credit Suisse

Countries in the Asia-Pacific saw the greatest outperformance with a 55% excess cumulative return. That’s a huge number.

Credit Suisse

They were followed by the US, which saw 20% outperformance, also a significant amount.

Credit Suisse

And third in Europe, which had 18% outperformance.

A Pew poll found that 56% of Americans said that their income was falling behind the cost of living.  At higher income levels, people said they were staying even and getting ahead, their incomes moving faster than inflation.

Standard & Poors reports that state income coffers have been effected by the decine in middle class wages.  In most states, tax revenue growth has not kept pace with the growth of the economy and S&P says inequaity is the cause.

Ron Paul writes:  On November 30th, voters in Switzerland will head to the polls to vote in a referendum on gold. On the ballot is a measure to prohibit the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from further gold sales, to repatriate Swiss-owned gold to Switzerland, and to mandate that gold make up at least 20 percent of the SNB’s assets.

Arising from popular sentiment similar to movements in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, this referendum is an attempt to bring more oversight and accountability to the SNB, Switzerland’s central bank.

The Swiss referendum is driven by an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the conduct not only of Swiss monetary policy, but also of Swiss banking policy. Switzerland may be a small nation, but it is a nation proud of its independence and its history of standing up to tyranny. The famous legend of William Tell embodies the essence of the Swiss national character. But no tyrannical regime in history has bullied Switzerland as much as the United States government has in recent years.

The Swiss tradition of bank secrecy is legendary. The reality, however, is that Swiss bank secrecy is dead. Countries such as the United States have been unwilling to keep government spending in check, but they are running out of ways to fund that spending. Further taxation of their populations is politically difficult, massive issuance of government debt has saturated bond markets, and so the easy target is smaller countries such as Switzerland which have gained the reputation of being “tax havens.”

Remember that tax haven is just a term for a country that allows people to keep more of their own money than the US or EU does, and doesn’t attempt to plunder either its citizens or its foreign account-holders. But the past several years have seen a concerted attempt by the US and EU to crack down on these smaller countries, using their enormous financial clout to compel them to hand over account details so that they can extract more tax revenue.

On the monetary policy front, the SNB sold about 60 percent of Switzerland’s gold reserves during the 2000s. The SNB has also in recent years established a currency peg, with 1.2 Swiss francs equal to one euro. The peg’s effects have already manifested themselves in the form of a growing real estate bubble, as housing prices have risen dangerously.

Switzerland… is ruled by a group of elites who are more concerned with their own status… than with the good of the country.  Given the action by the European Central Bank (ECB) to engage in further quantitative easing, the SNB’s continuance of this dangerous and foolhardy policy means that it will continue tying its monetary policy to that of the EU and be forced to import more inflation into Switzerland.

Just like the US and the EU, Switzerland at the federal level is ruled by a group of elites who are more concerned with their own status, well-being, and international reputation than with the good of the country. The gold referendum, if it is successful, will be a slap in the face to those elites.