Because you’re a woman…

One of the biggest misconceptions about the gender pay gap – which remains stubbornly high at nearly 14 per cent – is that it’s all a myth.

There’s this idea that women earn less because they choose to take on part-time roles, because they choose to take time out of the workforce to care for children or they simply prefer working in low-pay professions.

Today is Equal Pay Day – observed this year on November 11 because that it is the day that women begin “working for free” for until 2017.

This free labour, so often construed as something that’s a woman’s own fault, actually often does indeed come down to mere sex discrimination.

If you’re a woman, according to a new study, the reason you’re getting paid less is likely just that – because you’re a woman.

The KPMG study found that once you account for all the factors that might contribute to unequal pay – such as years not working, industry segregation, occupational segregation, share in part-time employment, and age – the single biggest factor is sex discrimination, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the unequal pay effect.

Another study which looked at pay gap data over a period of 50 years made another startling discovery, which put to rest another myth surrounding the pay gap – that women merely choose to enter low-paid professions.

The study found that as women enter into any profession, that profession tends to become over time lower paid.

To combat the persistent gender pay gap, Unite has campaigned for mandatory equal pay audits, which would require companies to review and publish any sort of gender pay gap within their workforce and then – crucially – they must do something about it to resolve the problem.

While Unite has welcomed new legislation that will force companies with 250 or more employees to publish pay gap data from 2018, Unite national officer for equalities Siobhan Endean argues that the new rules don’t go far enough.

Oppose

She explained to UNITElive that companies can oppose the spirit of the legislation while still abiding by the rules by simply dividing their business into different subgroups.

“If you’re a bank for example, you’ve got one division of the business which is branches, one is call centres, and another is investment banking,” she said.

“If all of your women work in the call centre and they’re paid at minimum wage and all your men work in investment banking are being paid massively high wages, but you separate that out in relation to your equal pay data, then you’re never going to tackle what is in fact a massive pay disparity in your business.”

“We at Unite have long been vocal proponents of taking specific action – through, for example, equal pay audits, which go way beyond the new rules – to close the gender pay once and for all,” she added.

“It’s been estimated that if we continue on the same path we have been, it’ll take another 170 years before women finally achieve equal pay. We’ve already waited nearly 50 years since the Equal Pay Act, which enshrined equal pay in law – we should not have to wait any longer.”

“Bosses are able to get away with paying their male and female employees unequally because no one knows they’re doing it,” Endean argued. “In this sense pay transparency will go a long way in closing the gap because it will reveal the specific nature of the problem – at the moment we’re grasping in the dark.”

“Before mandatory equal pay audits become a reality, in the meantime the best way women can achieve equal pay in their workplace is by joining a trade union. Unions can help negotiate fair pay and if all else fails, we can help women pursue equal pay claims in court.

“Workplace equality reps help support women in the workplace on a range of concerns important to them – they can help deal with workplace harassment, pregnancy and maternity issues as well as problems related to unequal pay, among other issues.”

Indeed, the power of a union in supporting women in the workplace was demonstrated most recently in an on-going strike action being taken by Fujitsu workers, who are downing tools demanding equal pay.

“It’s only through solidarity that we’ll achieve absolute workplace equality,” Endean said.

Find out more about Unite’s equal pay campaign here.