The gender pay gap – who’s really footing the bill?
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It’s no big secret that in the corporate world…and even the world of arts, education, innovation, television, film, theatre, music – in almost everything – men out-earn women: for the same work, at the same level of competence and often for less time and effort, thus creating a gender pay gap.
According to Naomi Grimley, a Global Affairs Correspondent, in 2015, the World Economic Forum (WEF), believed it would take another 118 years – or until 2133 – until the global pay gap between men and women is finally closed. The WEF’s Global Gender Gap reports that women are only now earning the amount that men did in 2006. It says “progress on closing the gap has stalled in recent years at a time when more women are entering the workplace.In fact, nearly a quarter of a billion more women are in the global workforce today than a decade ago.In several countries, more women are now going to university than men but – crucially – this is not necessarily translating into more women occupying skilled roles or leadership positions.”.
The WEF report looks at whether men and women have the same rights and opportunities in each country in four areas: health, education, economic participation and political empowerment.Nordic countries are still doing the most to close the gender gap overall, just as they were 10 years ago. They may not have achieved total equality, but Iceland (1), Norway (2), Finland (3) and Sweden (4) occupy the top four rankings out of 145 countries. Grimley reports that Saadia Zahidi, the Report’s lead author observes that “They have the best policies in the world for families…Their childcare systems are the best and they have the best laws on paternity, maternity and family leave.” Interestingly enough, Zahidi observes that Rwanda, which comes in ahead of the U.K. and the US at no. 6 in the index, is not far behind. It is believed, its high score is down to the number of female politicians active in the country.”After the genocide there, a special effort was made to bring more women into politics. Now 64% of its parliamentarians are female. The country also has more women in its labour force than men.”
Disappointingly however, the report concludes that the global picture is not one of systematic progress towards equality. Regretfully, Sri Lanka was listed as one of five countries that have been moving backwards in the Index.
According to Anju Malhotra and Deborah S. DeGraff in ‘Entry versus success in the labour force: Young women’s employment in Sri Lanka’, “Historically, women in Sri Lanka have reduced access to quality employment, and even if they do obtain a job, they are paid far less and are subject to more harassment and limitations as compared to males working the same jobs.” In ‘Patriarchy, Labour Markets and Development: Contesting the Sexual Division of Labour in Sri Lanka’, Matt Withers and Janaka Biyanwila observe, that “The Sri Lankan labour market is deeply separated and leaves little opportunity for women to gain access to jobs. Because of patriarchal policies imbedded in the history of this region, women are over-represented in the low-paid, laborious industries of the country. Specifically, it is in these jobs that women face a disproportionate amount of labour discrimination and lack of proper wages in the name of international competitiveness and the production of additional jobs.”
Wikipedia states that in many cases women are deprived of equal access to jobs, even when they are not well paid or of high status. The unemployment rate for women in Sri Lanka was 13% in 2012, which was six times higher than that of males, according to the Labour Force Survey taken by the Department of Census and Statistics.
Writing for the UK Independent in September 2016, Zlata Rodionova, observes that according to recent studies, the gender pay gap in the UK widens among top earners. ‘Women are still a distinct minority and they become rarer the higher one climbs’. This study conducted by consultancy firm Deloitte, has shown that the gender gap is slowly closing in the UK but even there, women will still have to wait until 2069 to achieve pay parity. She goes on to observe that ‘A recent survey by Halifax found that a gender pay gap has emerged in the amount of pocket money UK parents give to their children, with boys receiving almost 12 per cent more weekly pocket money compared to girls.
The question then remains, with the obvious disadvantages the gender pay gap creates within a society, in the lives of the women concerned and the obvious impact on entire families and communities, why does this disparity still persist? Why is the concept of Equal Pay for Equal Work, so hard to accept and assimilate in a majority of circumstances – even in the Developed world? Apart from an obvious lack of belief in a women’s ability to be just as good at any job as a man is – provided she is also equally qualified and has equal experience – there is perhaps to some degree, a lack of respect for women in general which trickles down until it finally hits the core beliefs of a society. Women are traditionally the lifeblood of a family. Of a community. Of a home, where she most often does what needs to be done with little thought to remuneration and time and effort. It would appear, in order to increase the opportunities women have in life to make something of themselves, it is usually with tremendous singleminded determination and with their own might and power, often having to break that glass ceiling along the way.
Or perhaps as Ms Zahidi says, attitudes still need to change in the home – not just inside governments or big businesses.”Unless we start changing the culture around the division of labour at home there’s always going to be that extra burden on women.” Were this to actively take place, it will allow women to be in a better position to increase their standing and presence in the global work force. Ultimately, it is not merely the woman – who gets a lower pay for the same work carried out by a male contemporary – that pays the price, but rather, Society as a whole that foots the bill.