Equal Pay is Not Yet a Reality, Women Work for Free Posted on 24/09/2015 by Henrietta Hedberg
Equal pay is currently one of the hottest topics, and most pressing issues within society. It’s been nearly 50 years since the Equal Pay Act, but we still don’t have equal pay. Research indicates that the inequalities lie more in upper management, confirming that older women might have grown accustomed to the inequality.
Recent Findings Between March 2015 until March 2016 UK companies with above 250 employees are required to disclose the average difference between male and female pay. The involvement oftransparency could be a powerful driver to close the gender pay gap, and encourage an equal society. A recent ONS study revealed that the gender pay gap is about 9.4% for part time workers. Women in the UK earn 22% less than men, meaning that they work for 1.4 hours for free, or 57 free working days. There is approximately £8,500 difference in salary. The average male manager earns £39,136 per year. The average female manager earns £30,612 per year. This is a big difference.
Senior Executive Roles A potential solution to this is to have more female workers in senior roles. Ann Francke, chief executive at Chartered Management Institution says “having more women in senior executive roles will pave the way for others and ensure they’re paid the same as their male colleagues at every stage of their careers.” The dilemma with there being less women in executive positions, is that many women put their career second hand and family first hand,preventing them from climbing up the ladder. Family values come first for most men as well, but the social stigma has long not allowed men to stay at home, meaning that the woman must stay at home. Another issue is that most executives or board members are middle aged white men, and they tend to promote young white men. The lack of women is also because the possibility to become an executive as a women occurred not too long ago, meaning that there hasn’t been any time for women who started out working ten years ago, to climb up the corporate ladder.
Female Employment on the Rise Females make up of 67% entry level roles, 43% senior management and 29% of the directors. This does show inequality, but also that female employment is on the rise.
The 29% are most likely middle aged, meaning it took them circa 30 years to reach the top, with more struggles than there are today in terms of gender equality. They don’t deserve to work for 57 days for free. Let’s thank them by paying them for their hours.
category: Corporate Social Responsibility title: Equal Pay is Not Yet a Reality, Women Work for Free focus keyword: equal pay Description: Equal pay is unfortunately not a reality for many. But things are about to change as disclosure of wages are to be implemented shortly. Tags: Ann Francke, Corporate, equal pay, equal pay act,equality, free, gender, inequality, middle aged white men, ONS study, pay gap, senior role, social stigma, upper management, Work