Women will work the rest of 2021 “for free”: Equal Pay Day and the gender pay gap
18 November marks Equal Pay Day, championed by the?Fawcett Society. It's the day in the year when - based on data on average pay - women overall stop being paid compared to men.
The gender pay gap is nothing new and has been a cause for concern for many decades. It's hard to believe that there are still such discrepancies between the genders but, worryingly, even in 2021 there is an?evident increase in the gender pay gap.
Whilst 2020 saw reports indicating that the gender pay gap between men and women working full time was at its widest for those over 50, we're now seeing younger women facing a rising pay gap.
This is despite the fact that employers are legally required to provide?equal pay?to both men and women if the work they do is the same or broadly similar, under the Equality Act 2019. Not to mention that UK private companies with over 250 employees are required by law to publish annual pay reports.
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The gender pay gap is a complex issue: The reasons behind this are not necessarily rooted in sexism, but also stem from traditional gender roles that place greater emphasis on the progression and success of the father, the need to care for the child, the prohibitive cost of childcare, and the desire to have a greater work/life balance that often leads the mother to reduce their hours and responsibilities, which (in many cases) inevitably leads to lower pay and opportunities.?
And whilst the above is true, it is not clear why in the UK this continues to be such a factor. Statistics show the UK ranks 23rd?for its gender pay gap, and for a developed western nation this is both surprising and surely frustrating for the many women who are impacted by this.
Requiring large employers to report this data is a good step in the right direction. As is said, what isn't known, won't get fixed. Fixing the spotlight on those organisations that are falling down in this will encourage them to do better and make them accountable for the decisions that have been made.