Gender Pay Gap Could Worsen

Today is Equal Pay Day in the UK.

This marks the point in the year when women in effect start 'working for nothing' compared to men, as the gap in pay between women and men means on average for every £100 men take home, women are getting £85 – a 14.9 per cent difference.

Ceri Goddard, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society said: "The gap in pay between women and men is one of the starkest indictors of how different nations are faring when it comes to equality between the sexes. Here in the UK, women still earn an average 14.9 per cent less than men. In recent years, progress on closing the gap has slowed, but as the age of austerity bites, we now face the very real prospect of the gap actually widening for the first time since records began.

"The UK’s workforce is experiencing dramatic change. With around three-quarters of a million public sector jobs predicted to go by 2017, government is pinning its hopes on the hundreds of thousands of women – who will make up the majority of those who will lose their jobs - being able to find work in the private sector. But this sphere has historically suffered a much larger pay gap – 20.4 per cent to the public sector’s 13.2 per cent."

Plans to pull down public sector pay to reflect local private sector rates will also hit women harder than men, according to the Chief Executive, while the recently floated policy of enabling workers to 'sell off' progressive employment rights in exchange for company shares also threatens to further drive down women’s wages.

"At the same time, women’s unemployment stands at a record 24 year high and growing numbers of women have been forced into low paid, part-time and insecure employment - 'underemployment'," she continued.

"Far from slowly moving forward, we now face going into reverse. If government wants to avoid an unprecedented backwards step on its watch, they must take more action.

"The UK needs a dedicated women’s employment strategy, and more must be done to enable the private sector to ensure a fair deal for women . At the same time, the government must stick to its guns on welcome plans to extend the right to request flexible work to all and reform of the parental leave system such that caring responsibilities can be better shared between parents who chose.

"Ensuring that basic employment rights are not branded as 'red tape' and getting employers to undertake simple payroll checks so women don’t lose out would also demonstrate real commitment to the millions of women being hit with a double whammy of unequal pay and frozen or shrinking salaries."

Ms Goddard warned failure to take concerted action now could well consign another generation of women to unequal pay, which as we have seen in the US elections, is not something that female voters are likely to take lightly in already tough times.

(GK/IT)