Figures published by the European Commission last week to mark European Equal Pay Day indicate that the gender pay gap has barely altered in the last few years.
The gap represents the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of male and female employees across the EU economy. At 16.4 per cent, the report shows that the figures are now stagnating after a slight downward trend in recent years.
A continuous downward trend can be found in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands and Cyprus in 2012. In some countries like Hungary, Portugal, Estonia, Bulgaria, Ireland and Spain, however, the gender pay gap has increased in recent years.
Another report just published by consultants PWC found that although the UK has made progress in narrowing the pay gap, it still lags behind many European countries when it comes to empowering women economically overall.
The declining trend (such as it is) can be explained by several factors, such as a rising share of higher educated female workers or the greater impact of the economic downturn on some male-dominated sectors, such as construction or engineering. In other words, the change is not solely due to improvements in pay and working conditions for women.
A report by the European Commission from December 2013 on the implementation of EU rules on equal treatment for women and men in employment found that equal pay is hindered by a number of factors. These include a lack of transparency in pay systems, a lack of legal clarity in the definition of work of equal value and procedural obstacles.
The obstacles comprise a lack of information necessary for workers to bring a successful equal pay claim or including information about the pay levels for categories of employees. Increased wage transparency could improve the situation of individual victims of pay discrimination who would be able to compare themselves more easily to workers of the other sex.
The Commission is currently looking at options for action at European level to improve pay transparency.
Iain Birrell of Thompsons Solicitors said: “In 1970 Barbara Castle described the Equal Pay Act as ‘another historic advance in the struggle against discrimination in our society.’ Nearly 45 years on these figures merely emphasise how far there is still to go. The effectiveness of the equal pay laws certainly need revisiting, but this report starkly reminds us that until society’s attitudes to basic fairness change, equal pay laws will simply be a sticking plaster on a sucking wound.”
To read the Commission report in full, go to:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/gender_pay_gap/140227_gpg_brochure_web_en.pdf
To read the PWC study, go to: http://www.pwc.co.uk/the-economy/publications/women-in-work-index.jhtml