On the surface society strives for gender equality, but inequality in the workforce remains buried beneath. Research conducted by The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), for example, found that “women are paid less than men in ninety percent of sectors”. This means that women who are equally qualified, experienced and skilled as men, do not receive the same salary for the same role. As the assistant director of UKCES states; “this research brings home the bleak reality of gender inequality at work”. While female employment continues to rise in the UK, gender inequality remains “a hardy perennial” that blights the economic landscape. To root out inequality, I believe that women and men should be paid equally for jobs that are substantially the same, and not be compensated differently simply because of gender.
Gender discrimination, however, remains a frightening reality for many women. This may be seen in an article by The Telegraph which states that women in the UK earn a “fifth less than the average employed man”. In other words, from November 4th this year, women in full-time employment will work the remainder of 2016 “for free”. Not only is this unfair, but it appears to break fundamental laws set by the Equal Pay Act.
Since its inception in 1970, the Equal Pay Act serves to govern “any gaps in pay” and provides the “legal context of pay equality and legislation”. Public sector employers, for example, must adhere to European legislation and ensure employees are not subject to “discrimination and equal pay issues”. Likewise, The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) states that every employee is “entitled to the same pay” as every “colleague doing the same job”. However, a recent report by The Guardian found that the gap between male and female wages continues to widen and men are paid almost “nineteen percent more than female counterparts”. To stop inequality of pay, I believe that all employers should adhere to the Equal Pay Act and ensure both male and female workers are paid equally for the same role. Equal work should mean equal pay, and employers should reward the achievements of staff equally regardless of gender.
Throughout history, women in Britain have battled against gender discrimination. The suffragette movement, for example, began in 1903, but it wasn’t until 1914 that women were finally given the right to vote. At the time, patriarchal conventions of the early 1900s viewed women as domestic carers, and men as the masters of political matters. Now, social ideology has changed. We have a female British Prime Minister and Scotland’s First Minister is also a woman. Likewise, women in the workforce are now recognised in terms of leadership and many heads of corporations are women. In the twenty-first century, women are now in the strongest position they have ever been in terms of politics and careers. However, a substantial gap between male and female wages remains.
The connection that underpins this gender pay gap becomes more prevalent at higher management levels. The Guardian, for example, states that women in higher management earn “three-quarters as much as men” and would have to “work until they were nearly 80” to accumulate the equivalent “lifetime earnings” of a man. Effectively, this means that female workers who perform the same duties and offer the same skillset as men, continue to be penalised because of their gender and are paid a whopping “thirty-five percent less”. Furthermore, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) state that this wage gap “is far worse for women aged 40-plus”. Not only does the wage gap increase with age and positions of seniority, but there is also a persistent “bonus pay gap”. For example, the average bonus for a female director stands at £41,000, while male directors receive over £53,000. While it may be argued that women should take legal action and seek compensation for missed bonuses. Helen Pitcher, the head of Advanced Boardroom Excellence states; “very few women want to stick their heads above the parapet on this stuff”.
In her thesis, ‘Women and Management in the 1980s’, Pitcher asserts that “very little has changed” since the early 1980s, and patriarchal practices in the workplace remain. Women, for example, are still viewed as domestic carers and take career gaps to bring up their children. Consequently, women with children miss out on promotions and therefore contribute towards persistent gender differences in pay. While it has proven difficult for British employment legislation to redress the gender balance in earning and caring, other countries such as Germany and Portugal grant male workers’ parental leave entitlement, and reimburse their income during parental leave. This has resulted in more fathers taking more parental leave days, and produced a greater female labour force who receive higher earnings. This increase in female earnings not only contributes towards a stronger long-term economic growth, but reduces risks in poverty.