Equal pay announced in UAE and Saudi; what does it mean?

Within the past two weeks, the UAE and Saudi Arabia both announced equal pay for men and women holding the same jobs within the private sector. What does this mean? and how does the rest of the GCC fare when it comes to gender economic gaps?

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There’s a large gender pay gap around the world; the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that women’s wages are 15% less than those of men. It further demonstrates that it will take an average of 108 years to achieve gender pay equality worldwide, according to its report. For the Middle East and North Africa, it’s 150 years. The gender pay gap doesn’t only affect monthly salaries, it cascades to total lifetime earnings, retirement, women participation in the workforce and retention in the workplace.

The ranking of GCC when it comes to gender economic participation and opportunity shows Kuwait in the top place out of the six GCC countries ranking 120th globally, followed by Qatar (132), Bahrain (133), UAE (137), Oman (143) and Saudi Arabia (148).

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has issued an order prohibiting employers from discriminating against female employees when it comes to advertising a role, hiring, and pay scale in the private sector.

In 2018, the UAE announced a draft law to ensure equal pay between genders working for the same role in the private sector. This draft was announced as a federal law taking effect this September 25, stating:

"Female employees shall receive wages equal to that of males if they perform the same work, or another of equal value. The procedures, controls and standards necessary for evaluating work of equal value will be set under a decision to be issued by the Cabinet, based on a proposal from the Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation."

Emirati CEO of Standard Charted bank in UAE, Rola Abu Manneh told LinkedIn News Gulf how proud she is of this news “I expect that this will result in significant headway concerning the general conversation around gender equity across the wider region. There is still a long way to go to create an industry in which women have equal access to opportunity and positive outcomes, however, this law has propelled gender equity years ahead and is a promising movement.” She said. 

“As a female leader in finance industry, I feel very strongly that I have an innate and moral responsibility to stand in solidarity against unconscious bias and unequal opportunity in the workplace.”

To understand more, I asked Thanj Kugananthan, Founder of Dubai HR consultancy firm Visible HR, about this law in the UAE and consequent actions women who might be facing wage discrimination can take.

“The equal pay law has actually always been in place in the labor law, it's just that previously there was no clarity around when equal pay would be applicable.” She said. “If contested previously, employers were able to justify unequal pay by different job titles, qualifications, years of experience etc. This decree gives us greater clarity on when the equal pay law would apply and once we get further details from the Cabinet on how to calculate jobs of equal value and how to calculate "pay", that will enable both employers and employees to know where they stand and what they need to do.”

When it comes to what this law means for companies, it might be the needed push for employers to create a space where salary conversations can take place.

“Employees may be worried about approaching their employer directly about this if they have a confidentiality clause in their contract that discourages them to discuss their salaries openly. However, with the announcement of this decree, all private sector companies should allow their employees to have an avenue in which they can raise these concerns, especially as this new decree does now give greater clarity on when the equal pay law would apply. The HR department should be the first point of call for any employee to raise this concern and in my experience, both as a consultant and an employee, most companies would much rather deal with equal pay concerns internally and swiftly, than via a lawsuit through the labor courts.” Thanj said.

• Full report: WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2020
• Women in Work: PwC Insights from Middle East and North Africa
• Taking gender bias out of job ads 

What do you think is needed to ensure equality laws are applied in the workplace? Share your thoughts in the comments below using #ThatExpatLife.