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By Popescu Stefan
It’s safe to say that in recent years, the issue of gender pay disparity garnered significant attention globally, numerous efforts and attempts being made to address it. The issue has persisted throughout history, despite significant legislative actions that were taken, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and even though we made steps forward in solving this problem, it still remains a pressing concern to this day.
Evidence and analysis…
According to a groundbreaking report from the World Bank Group (March 4, 2024), the global gender gap in the workplace is much wider than previously believed. The report highlights that despite the fact that very few countries take into account legal disparities involving child care or violence, women are still paid unequally, persisting across all nations, including the richest economies.
The most recent Women, Business, and the Law report offers a comprehensive examination of the obstacles women face in entering the global workforce trying to maintain their wellbeing or of their families and community. Adding two critical indicators in opening up or restricting women’s options, the safety from violence and the childcare services, and the average woman enjoys only 64% of the legal protection that the men do, the gap being even wider in practice.
In many countries, insufficient childcare laws result in women dedicating significantly more time to unpaid care work than men, averaging 2.4 hours per day, most of it spent caring for children. Only 62 countries actually have standards that govern over the childcare services, and, despite the evidence, women still get paid approximately 77 cents for every dollar paid to man.
Why do women earn less?
Recent EU27 data reveals a variety of elements contributing to the pay gap between men and women. Around 24% of it is related to sectorial segregation, highly feminised jobs often being systematically undervalued. Other factors include the unequal share of paid and unpaid work, women also spending more hours on unpaid work then man, and the pay discrimination, that is directly affecting their career choices. The concept of glass ceiling is the colloquial term that represents the very real social barrier preventing women from reaching high hierarchy positions with less than one in ten companies’ CEOs being women. Despite the studies, the far largest pay gap remains unexplained and can only be solved with transparency.
So how do we overcome the gender pay gap?
Firstly, measures that can be implemented include encouraging salary negotiations for women and also including benefit packages that are also beneficial to them more than to men. But before changing behaviours, we must shift the mindset of people, by real life candid interaction to erase the ingrained stereotypes we are holding onto as beliefs that unconsciously lead us to make assumptions. Another way of supporting the women would be by encouraging remote working to better handle childcare responsibilities while maintaining a career without their income plummeting.
Comparison among EU countries
In Europe Union the gender pay gap has decreased over the last few years, from 15.5% to 13% ranging from less than 5% in countries such as Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Poland and Belgium to more than 18% in countries as Germany, Austria, Estonia, Latvia. On average, for every euro a man gets paid, a woman earns 87 cents, meaning it would take up to 1.5 extra months to make up the difference.
However, a lower gender pay gap does not necessarily indicate that a specific country's labour market is more gender equal. It often reflects a lower employment rate for women, where primarily women with higher earning potential actually enter the labour market.
A continuing journey towards pay equity
In conclusion, the gender pay gap persists as a multifaceted issue influenced by factors ranging from occupational segregation and unequal distribution of unpaid work to discriminatory practices and societal perceptions. While progress has been made through legislative measures and awareness campaigns, achieving true pay equity requires continued efforts to challenge ingrained biases, promote transparent pay practices, and foster supportive policies that enable women to thrive equally in the workforce.
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