Mind The Gap: Transparency meets hypocrisy on International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day, first conceived a century ago, has become a staple of the corporate content calendar. Organisations eager to demonstrate their diversity creds pump out a steady stream of posts about leadership, opportunity, empowerment, passion, flexibility and bringing your whole self to work.

But conspicuously absent from this is any mention of money. The gender pay gap in the UK remains at over 16%, with even larger pay disparities in the finance and technology sectors. Too many of those organisations posting about female leadership and the superstar women within their ranks have made lamentable progress in closing their own gender gaps in the five years they’ve legally had to report the data.

And so this year, as I’ve done on International Women’s Day for a few years now, I committed to reply to each of the corporate posts I saw about IWD to ask what they’re doing about their gender pay gap. Each time I pointed to that organisation’s own record in the UK’s Gender Pay Gap Service database.

I was joined on my mission this year by the PayGapApp , a bot which systematically retweeted every post tagged #InternationalWomensDay with their gender pay gap stats. This was not - as many got in touch to ask - my doing, but was set up by two brilliant women who are as keen as me to expose the gap between what organisations say and what they do. (As an aside, this is a great example of bots augmenting human work; PayGapApp dealt with volume, leaving me to get on with what I’m better at – sarcasm and generally being a pain in the arse).

Here’s what I learned

Most organisations really don’t want to talk about this

I replied to around 40 organisations in all. At the time of writing just three have replied. To their credit they acknowledged the problem, committed to doing better and shared links to their action plans on closing their own gender pay gap.?

The majority simply ignored my question.?

And from one, a flurry of views of my LinkedIn from their legal team. PRs: if your reaction to someone asking about your org’s own gender pay gap - a matter of public record - is to contact your lawyers, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself and consider a different occupation.

It seems organisations didn’t take kindly to the spotlight being shone on their hypocrisy. Many of those retweeted by PayGapApp deleted their tweets, with some posting again without the hashtag to avoid scrutiny. Here’s a thread collating all the offenders .

Employees really do want to talk about it

I announced my plans a week in advance . Recognising that many will feel uncomfortable calling out their own employers, I invited people to message me if they’d like to me ask the question on their behalf.?

My DMs were busy. Here’s a typical example (firm removed to protect sender’s identity).

Hi Sharon, I saw your tweet about IWD and god, I would love it if you would comment on my company please (I absolutely do not dare to but have raised the lack of change in our gap internally).? The pay gap is consistently 28%. It's outrageous and the posts on IWD are pure tokenism.

One chap replied to my questioning of his employer, berating me for “coming out with strident opinions as though they are fact”. But I had twelve women from that same organisation get in touch with me privately to thank me for posting, enraged about the slow pace of change.

As a communicator I'm depressed yet unsurprised that so many don't feel empowered to discuss this with their own employers, feeling forced instead to embarrass them into action via a third party (me).

Organisations can and should do more to talk about this issue and to create an environment where everyone feels empowered and psychologically safe discussing their concerns around pay.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but it’s slow acting

When the legislation was introduced in the UK compelling all organisations with more than 250 staff to report their gender pay gaps, many believed it would lead to faster progress on pay parity. Transparency would force organisations to take action, and female employees - suddenly aware of their employers’ shortcomings - would press for change or vote with their feet and leave for better pay.

In practice, change has been slow, with the gender pay gap actually increasing during Covid.

But as we emerge from the crisis into what many are calling the Great Resignation - where growing competition for talent meets pent-up desire for career moves - change is afoot.?

The size of the backlash against companies that pontificate on gender equality while doing little on pay parity suggests many have had enough of platitudes. They want to see action.

Transparency alone doesn’t lead to change. But it does arm people who are pressing for change with evidence of inaction.?

With the record now laid bare, and the market conditions ripe for change, people are finally using that data to hold companies to account. If you’re using IWD for marketing and focusing on society-wide problems like stereotyping, people will rightly ask what you’re doing about the one thing that is directly within your power to change -- ensuring your female employees are given equal pay.

Because smashing stereotypes is all well and good but if you want to put a roof over your head, feed and clothe your children or invest in your future you don’t need mentorship or inspiration, you need cold hard cash.?

The World Economic Forum's 2021 Global Gender Gap Report estimates it will take 135.6 years for the gap to close on its current trajectory.?

So if you really value women, tell us what you’re doing to speed up the pace of change so we’re paid fairly and equally for our work.

Because your record speaks for itself.