Women work more, but are still paid less: the gender pay gap
Environment — di Valentina Neri
In Europe, there is a 16 per cent difference between the average salaries of men and those of women. A figure we can work on, in many ways.
Women work more, but are still paid less: the gender pay gap
In Europe, there is a 16 per cent difference between the average salaries of men and those of women. A figure we can work on, in many ways.
8 March, International Women's Day. The right occasion to celebrate women's achievements throughout history, but also to reflect on all the issues still to be resolved. One of the most important and debated is the gender pay gap, the wage gap between men and women. What United Nations adviser Anuradha Seth has described, in no uncertain terms, as the greatest theft in history.
What the gender pay gap is and what it entails
Some basic concepts are provided by the most recent edition of the "Report on equality between men and women in the European Union", published in 2017 by the European Commission. Even when they succeed in their studies, which happens frequently, women end up having to settle for lower pay; their career advancement is less frequent; or their working life is interrupted. As a result, they earn less over the course of their lifetime. This factor also has a negative impact on the amount of their pension.
What are the reasons the European Commission gives to explain the gender pay gap? The first, and most intuitive, is the fact that a greater percentage of women work in lower-paid sectors; and on this front, research shows, we have made very little progress in recent years. Moreover, a significant proportion of women favour temporary and part-time contracts, often associated with lower hourly pay.
In the majority of countries – and this is without doubt the most serious aspect – the gender pay gap is found within the same occupation. This means that justifications based on the degree of qualification required by the profession in question no longer hold. In these cases, the European Commission explains, one can speak of discrimination in the full sense of the word. Or of companies that award bonuses to reward behaviours more common among men (many hours of overtime, no career interruptions, willingness to relocate).
How large the wage differences are in Europe
Let us begin by clarifying that women are increasingly present in the labour market. As Eurostat reveals, in the European Union their employment rate reached 65.3 per cent at the end of 2016, growing practically in parallel with that of men, which stands at 76.9 per cent.
But it often happens that, precisely as female employment approaches male employment, the gender pay gap widens. The European average, according to the most up-to-date Eurostat data, is 16.2 per cent. But there are enormous differences between the most virtuous countries, such as Romania (5.2 per cent), Luxembourg (5.5 per cent) and Italy (5.3 per cent), and the most unequal, led by Estonia, which exceeds 25 per cent, and Germany at 21.5 per cent.
Italy, then, appears to fare rather well, but as always it is necessary to look at the data very carefully before drawing hasty conclusions. When broken down by age group, it emerges that the gender pay gap widens for younger female workers, those under 25. Indeed, in this case it reaches 16 per cent, one of the highest figures on the continent.
The most unequal sector of all is financial and insurance services, where the gender pay gap fluctuates between 18 and 30 per cent.
What was discovered in the United Kingdom
From this year the United Kingdom has placed all its bets on transparency, requiring companies with more than 250 employees to make public the pay differences they apply among their staff. Taking the average across the more than 10,000 British companies that were required to disclose this data, a gender pay gap of 9.7 per cent emerges. But significant differences emerge from case to case.
For the major banks Goldman Sachs, Barclays and HSBC, for example, the difference between the average hourly pay of a man and that of a woman is 36 per cent, 43.5 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. This is due above all to the fact that there are few women among the highest-paid individuals (17 per cent, 19 per cent and 34 per cent respectively).
For the airlines EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic, the average pay difference is 45.5 per cent and 27.2 per cent respectively: both have pledged to hire more women as pilots, since female representation is currently concentrated in less qualified roles.
What solutions exist for the gender pay gap
These are the figures, and they concern us very closely too. But how can things improve? European treaties already explicitly prohibit any gender discrimination in pay: but, evidently, this is not enough.
According to the Commission, the process must begin very early, starting from school, where statistics bear witness to female excellence. The very first step is to eliminate all the stereotypes that end up confining this excellence to a narrow range of subjects, and to encourage girls to test themselves in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Moving to the world of work, some countries such as the United Kingdom have imposed transparency. Elsewhere, the introduction of a statutory minimum wage (not to be confused with the reddito di inclusione or reddito di cittadinanza: this is simply an hourly, daily or monthly rate below which employers cannot go) appears to have had positive effects. Given that female employment is relatively high in the public sector, raising salaries (for example those of teachers) could be a major step forward. Finally, the report concludes, the broader world of welfare, of support for families and parenthood, and of policies to create a fair balance between work and private life, also comes into play.
There are many fronts on which to work, then, but always bearing one constant firmly in mind: ensuring equity is not a sacrifice, but a concrete step forward. Not only for women, but for the entire fabric of society.