#mindthegenderpaygap : mid year round up

The gender pay gap continues to dominate as a major news story for 2016 – here’s my latest round up of the global stories, issues and challenges.

I joked about it on April Fool’s Day, but apparently, it can be done – bravo to the University of Essex,  who said they were  “impatient for change” and have thus given their female academics a pay rise to bring their average salaries level with the men. Facebook also maintain that they’ve closed their gap, although this BBC piece suggests (rightly) that it’s only half of the issue.

However, it transpires that academia in general suffers a huge gender pay gap; a new (US) study shows female PhDs in the science and engineering fields make 31% less than their male peers one year after graduation, according to a new study in the American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings. When controlling for the fact that women tend to earn degrees in fields that pay less than those in which more men earn degrees, the observed gap dropped to 11 percent. And the gap disappeared when controlling for whether the women were married and had children.

In the UK,  the new living wage came into law in April 2016 – but what does life look like on £7.20 an hour?

“From today, the National Living Wage will give around 900,000 women and half a million men an immediate pay rise in their hourly earnings. By 2020 this translates to 1.9 million women and 1 million men directly seeing a rise in their pay. The gender pay gap at the 10th percentile of the earnings distribution – including those working part-time – is expected to fall from 5.6% currently to zero by the end of the decade. Over the next five years women earning the National Living Wage will see their pay rise by over a quarter and growing more than 1.5 times faster than the salary of an average worker.”

[Source: UK government website]

What emerged from four USA news items?  

• A new study found that women hold less than a third of “middle skill” jobs—which include roles like welders, mechanics, and IT support staff. Researchers say that if just 10% of the women with similar, but lower-paid gigs moved into these fields, it could double median female earnings;
• Top US women footballers filed a complaint for equal pay;
• And Fortune shared five things every woman needs to know before she renegotiates her salary. A new Glassdoor survey blew up the myth that men – unlike women- are great at asking for higher salaries, finding that more than half of all employees settle for their employer’s first offer. However, those women who do try to negotiate tend to be less successful, according to the survey, which found that 15% of men are able to talk their way into a higher paycheck, vs 4% of women;
• The gender wage gap is especially pronounced among highly educated men and women in white-collar jobs, an analysis by The Wall Street Journal shows. Women without a high-school diploma were paid 79% as much as male peers in 2014, whereas women with a bachelor’s degree or higher were paid 76% as much as male peers. This may be in part because white-collar jobs such as CEOs, doctors, and engineers reward working long hours and job hopping, two behaviours that can be tricky for working parents (ie, mothers). And as gap watchers already know, wage transparency, pay studies, and other one-off remedies won’t do much to fix the problem. What might? Cheaper childcare, more flexible workplaces, and increased parental leave (along with dads who are willing to take it).

I love a story which suggests that corporate diversity programmes can make a difference – and this report from the Harvard Business Review finds that women perceived as “high-potential” receive a pay premium, making even more than their male counterparts. There’s a catch, of course: that pay boost is far more likely to kick in if they work for a company with overarching diversity goals.

It’s not just about the UK  and the USA, though. A new survey shows that while India has a gender pay gap, it narrows when men and women are working at the same level. Men in India earn an average of nearly 19% more than women, but just 3.5% more if they work at the same level at the same firm.

Yet another new study looks at how becoming a mother affects the gender pay gap in different countries. Interestingly, having a child in Ireland puts a big dent in working mothers’ salaries, while it barely registers for mums in Italy, Spain and Belgium. This Irish op-ed piece really reflects the writer’s frustration with the current set up, doesn’t it?

It’s been interesting to watch actresses emerge as public advocates for pay equality and equal opportunities at work. True, their massive pay cheques make it difficult to feel too outraged on their behalf. Yet their celebrity may make their actions useful to working women with less clout. House of Cards star Robin Wright recently explained how she got the show’s producers to pay her as much as co-star Kevin Spacey.

“You better pay me or I’m going to go public,” Wright recalls saying. “And they did.”

The last time I wrote about the gender pay gap impacting pocket money,  my Facebook page was alive with comments saying it wasn’t so – but this latest survey suggests that, broadly speaking,  there is still a pocket money gap of 13%! What I still can’t wrap my head around is why – can parents please comment and shed some light?

Finally,  at the other end of the age spectrum, both the TUC and the New York Times report on the extent to which the gender  pay gap is impacting retirement; in the UK, women have barely half the pensions of men and the same is true in the USA – women are in far worse shape than their male counterparts when it comes to retirement. Because women make less over our lifetimes and thus have lower pensions, we are 80% more likely than men to be in poverty at age 65 and older.

On marriage #equality in Ireland

More by chance than deliberation, I found myself on holiday in Ireland this May and driving across the country from Wexford to Kerry on the day that the country went to the polls to vote YES or NO on the subject of gay marriage – more formally known as proposed modification 34 to the Constitution, which would “permit marriage to be contracted by two persons without distinction as to their sex”.

As we drove west across seven counties, we saw campaign posters on walls, lamp posts and telegraph poles – and the majority of them were proclaiming NO.

NO to modifying the Constitution; NO to challenging centuries of Church based teachings on what constitutes marriage; NO to welcoming in  a new and open-minded era of love and tolerance.

The NO campaign (who also dominated the radio airwaves, however much we jumped around on the dial, spouting messages of hate on Irish talk radio) had clearly spent a fortune on their poster campaign and this image featured heavily.

(The back story behind its use is also a telling lesson as to the law of unintended consequences regarding the price tag attached to gaining “free” photos of you and your family …)

Thankfully, we started to see more and more YES posters as we drove further west – here’s me with the one near our holiday cottage in Co Kerry. And the following day, as we now know, Ireland overwhelmingly voted YES – and the Irish constitution and the world changed forever.

I’ll admit now to having, as my former boss used to say, some skin in this game. I’m half Irish, I lived there as a child and have spent innumerate holidays there throughout my life. I also come from a comedically large, extended family (my father is one of six children, his father was one of nine) and I know of at least three members of that tribe who are/were gay.  Only the youngest cousin of that group was ever officially out – and she was very much in my mind as we followed the breaking news and election updates on RTE. 

 

(Irish Prime Minister) Enda Kenny made this statement on the day that the successful YES vote was announced – such wonderful, uplifting words:

 

 

 

“With today’s Yes vote we have disclosed who we are – a generous, compassionate, bold and joyful people. The referendum was about inclusiveness and equality, about love and commitment being enshrined in the constitution. The people have spoken. They have said yes. Ireland – thank you.”

And now, as of 16^th November 2015, the first couples to marry as a result of this historic vote and modification 34, have done so – much love, luck and congratulations to them all.

Bravo, Ireland: now let’s see similar legislation come in north of the border, so that the wonderful wedding like the one I attended in Belfast at the end of November can be an option for all couples, not just straight ones.