International Equal Pay Day: A time to urge for equal pay at work
The 18th of September, marks the second annual International Equal Pay Day; a time to promote action towards reaching the goal of equal pay for work of equal value for all. The International Equal Pay Day was established in 2019 by the UN General Assembly, which voiced deep concern over slow progress in women’s economic empowerment, the undervaluing of work traditionally held by women, and the difficulties in tackling pay inequality.
However, despite decades of activism, and dozens of laws on equal pay, globally, women – especially women with children, women of colour, women refugees and migrants, and women with disabilities – still earn less than men.
According to UN Women, in spite of significant progress in women’s education and higher female labour market participation rates in many countries, closing the gender pay gap has been too slow. At the current pace, the organization estimates that it could take 257 years to achieve economic gender parity.e
An important step to closing the gender pay gap is the more equitable sharing of parental responsibilities between men and women.
Covid-19 has widened the gender pay gap
The Covid-19 crisis has widened this pay gap even more, to the disadvantage of women with family responsibilities, due largely to the childcare and educational requirements imposed by COVID-related closures and lockdowns. The International Labour Organization (ILO) says the impact on women has been worse than on men.
According to ILO’s ‘Global Wage Report 2020-21,’ the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on wages has fallen differently on men and women, the latter being disproportionately affected. Looking at a selection of European countries, the report estimates that without the payment of wage subsidies, workers would have lost 6.5% of their total wage bill between the first and second quarters of 2020.
For women, the total wage bill would have declined by 8.1%, compared to a decline of 5.4% for men. ILO explains that this discrepancy was mainly caused by reduced working hours, more than by the difference in the number of lay-offs. The wage bill lost as a result of the drop in working hours was 6.9% for women compared to 4.7% for men.
Last year’s Global Gender Gap report, published by the World Economic Forum, offered insights into what drives the world’s gender pay gap. Among other factors, it showed the impact of the motherhood wage penalty and the fatherhood wage premium. It concluded, “an important step to closing the gender pay gap is the more equitable sharing of parental responsibilities between men and women.”
In the UK, the average hourly median gender pay gap (GPG) increased in 2020-21 compared to the previous year, according to an analysis carried out by Pinsent Masons.
The analysis showed that the average hourly median GPG, for the companies which had reported their data on the government portal until April 2021, was 16.4% for 2020/21, up from 15.8% in 2019-20 and 15.2% in 2017-18.
However, only a quarter of the UK companies normally eligible to report their gender pay gap data did so in time for the April deadline this year, raising concerns that a continued hiatus on enforcement is delaying progress in closing the pay gap.
On average, women technologists made 2.5% less than their male counterparts in 2020.
In the U.S. the gender pay gap has improved for workers 25-34 years old but in general it has remained relatively stable over the past 15 years. In 2020, women earned 84% of what men earned, which means that women would have to work an extra 42 days to reach what men are paid.
A Pew research study shows that as has been the case in recent decades, the 2020 wage gap was smaller for workers ages 25-34 than for all workers 16 and older. Women ages 25-34 earned 93 cents for every dollar a man in the same age group earned on average. In 1980, women aged 25-34 earned 33 cents less than their male counterparts, compared with 7 cents in 2020.
The estimated 16-cent gender pay gap among all workers in 2020 was down from 36 cents in 1980.
Taking a look specifically at the technology sector, the gender pay gap seems to be narrowing, although much work remains to be done. According to Hired, the gender and race wage gap is still prevalent, with Black and Hispanic women continuing to see the widest gap.
The ‘Hired 2021 Impact Report – Wage Inequality in the Workplace’ shows that men technologists were offered higher salaries than women for the same job title at the same company 59% of the time in 2020, compared to 65% in 2019. On average, women made 2.5% less than their male counterparts in 2020, down from 4.4% in 2019.
A study by accounting firm Kruze Consulting also found that female startups’ CEOs took a pay cut during the pandemic, contrary to their male counterparts who enjoyed salary increases.
An analysis of 250 seed- and venture-funded startups by the accounting firm found that female executives took a harder hit on their finances. Women running startups took a 30% pay cut during the peak of the pandemic (earned $101,000 in 2020 compared to $138,000 in 2019) in the U.S., while their male counterparts received a 2% pay increase (earned $146,000 compared to $143,000 in 2019).
The International Equal Pay Day
The International Equal Pay Day, to be commemorated on 18 September annually, was established in 2019 by the UN General Assembly, which voiced deep concern over slow progress in women’s economic empowerment, the undervaluing of work traditionally held by women, and the difficulties in tackling pay inequality.
The General Assembly urged action to reach the goal of equal pay for work of equal value for all, and encouraged all stakeholders to continue to support the goal of equal pay for work of equal value.
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