Why Are Women Being Short-Changed at Work?
Graphic:personneltoday
Most women over the age of 18 working in the UK earn less than their male colleagues in the same jobs. Unfortunately, it does not look like this will change any time soon.
According to a report issued by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in July 2007, it will take 200 years for there to be as many women as men in the House of Commons; 65 years to achieve boardroom equality at FTSE 100 companies; and 45 years for the pension gap to close at current rates of progress.
Numerous recent articles in the press have confirmed that, although women are being promoted more rapidly than men, they are falling behind in terms of overall pay.
How is it possible that 30 years after the Equal Pay legislation introduced the concept of equal pay for work of equal value, women are still being short-changed in the workplace? If we women want to see this change in our lifetime, then we have our work cut out for us.
A recent survey found that female managers earned on average £6,076 less than their male counterparts – a gap of 12.2%. For directors the gender gap is even greater at 23%. The full time pay gap is now 17% nationally and part time women workers earn a staggering 38% less than men working full time. Research also shows that women are being paid smaller bonuses than men. Not surprisingly – women are currently 20% more likely to resign from their jobs than men.
Some of the main problems accounting for this disparity are job segregation between the sexes, a failure to promote part-time employees to senior posts and narrow career avenues for females even when they out perform their male counterparts. In addition, despite legislation, it is a fact that once women have children, advancing their careers becomes more difficult. Jenny Watson, EOC Chair, warns that:
“A country that channels women into low-paid work, fails to adequately support families and forces people who want to work flexibly to trade down in jobs pays a high price in terms of child poverty, family breakdown and low productivity.”
There is also evidence that the glass ceiling remains a real and psychological barrier. Women tend to underestimate their abilities and worth and talk about their weaknesses, while men vociferously promote their own strengths. Women are also often offered lower starting salaries and are less likely to ask for a pay raise than men. When negotiating termination, some women are also more inclined to accept lower severance packages.
However, Caroline Doran, Rooks Rider’s Employment Law specialist, says that this does not have to be case:
“I worked with one successful investment banker from a well known City financial institution. They offered her £70,000 for her redundancy payment. Her lawyer told her that she should accept it but she came to me for a second opinion. We were able to increase it to £500,000. Lots of men and women would probably have accepted the first offer and first opinion. However, in my experience the colloquial ‘if you don’t ask; you don’t get’ applies.”
So what are some possible solutions to this problem?
Kate Bellamy, senior policy officer at the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equality between men and women in the workforce, called on the government to introduce mandatory pay audits for all employers. This would promote transparency and end the culture of pay secrecy that allows discrimination to thrive.
In addition, the EOC recommends that there should be a major effort to assist women returning to work part-time after their maternity leave to get senior positions and to update their skills and change careers.
To increase retention, having more women in top management positions might help companies to retain women lower down in the hierarchy, as these women would see greater opportunities for advancement.
Nevertheless, despite these depressing statistics, many companies acknowledge the value of their female employees and have started to offer flexible working arrangements.
Caroline Doran also recommends getting involved in networking groups for women. She explains, “Rooks Rider hosts a women’s networking group, With Women in Mind, which provides a forum for women to make useful contacts with other successful women and to build their careers. I cannot recommend highly enough the benefit of being an active member of women only networking groups in addition to mixed gender groups. ”
In conclusion, the gap in salaries earned by men and women costs the British economy a massive ₤23 billion in lost productivity and wasted talent which is bad not only for women but for Britain as a whole . The onus is therefore on the Government and companies to address discriminatory pay, and it is up to women to take action for themselves.
Contributed by Sarah Anderson of Rooks Riders Solicitors. For further information please contact either Sarah Anderson or Caroline Doran on +44 207 689 7000 or by email: CDoran@rooksrider.co.uk or SAnderson@rooksrider.co.uk.
