The figures show that if you just put all of women’s pay into one pot and calculated an average and then did the same for men, the unadjusted pay gap between men and women in the United Kingdom would be at 22.9% – meaning women earn, on average, 77p for every £1 men earn. But here’s the rub: Those positions don’t pay almost as well as the jobs in which men draw top dollar, nor is the reverse pay gap anywhere as big as 28%.
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A lack of flexible working opportunities and a high concentration of women in part-time work was identified as the main driver of this pay difference, with 42% of women working part-time compared to just 12% of men. That 84 percent estimate was backed up by a study released in November by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A comprehensive new study from Glassdoor provides some answers.
But it’s still one of the highest gaps in the country.
The Gender Pay Gap report, by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, is an attempt to address the systemic issues causing gender pay disparity and recommend government action in the area. For instance, a woman with young children may have a job with a title that reflects her seniority but opts to work at a company that pays somewhat less in exchange for more flexibility.
“I found that if I was going for jobs that weren’t quite up to my skillset – a little bit less than what I was able to do – they wrote me off because I was over-qualified”.
The website, which aggregates anonymous reports on wages and working conditions, surveyed hundreds of thousands of salaries posted online and found a gender pay gap existed in each of the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France and Australia.
Consider the factors that can be “explained” in Glassdoor’s study.
The situation is so bad that 11 per cent of mothers returning to work felt forced to leave their job.
There have also been suggestions as to how companies can make further change in the boardroom.
On average, men are paid 19.2% more than women – and the government has pledged to abolish the pay gap within a generation.
Chamberlain told Reuters that “It is still a highly significant and large gap”, but the results point to factors outside of the workplace as being the main forces behind the concept of a pay gap. Using data from sales teams in businesses, Xactly Insights has shown that despite outperforming men in terms of their quota attainment, on average women receive lower commission rates of 4.1% compared to 4.8%.
The divergence can be explained in part by women’s growing dominance in post-secondary institutions.
But pay gap calculations are complicated by the fact that a disproportionate share of female employees invests less time into work and more time into domestic responsibilities than their male counterparts. “Equality and fair progression means much more than having the same number of men and women on your board”.
They were also more likely to be responsible for childcare and other forms of unpaid caring.
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United States labour researchers Glassdoor Economic Research attempted to make an “apples-to-apples comparison” between men and women by adding statistical controls for age, education, years of experience, occupation, industry, location, year, company and job title. “This is an example of occupational choice that can be statistically controlled for but is heavily influenced by social norms largely beyond the control of individual female workers”. According to the study, it’s not education or experience that’s the main driver between men and women’s pay.
