Tag: gender pay gap

EQUAL PAY DAY 2024: Time to close the gender pay gap

TUC: Employment Rights Bill is “vital” for women’s pay and equality

TODAY (20 November) is Equal Pay Day 2024. That is two days earlier than last year when it fell on 22nd November. This means that, despite years of slow progress to close the UK’s mean Gender Pay Gap, it has definitively widened for the first time since 2013.

Equal Pay Day is a national campaign led by the Fawcett Society in the UK. It marks the day in the year when, based on the gender pay gap, women overall in the UK stop being paid compared to men.

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women within a particular group or population. Fawcett uses the mean, full-time, hourly gender pay gap for the UK to calculate the gender pay gap for Equal Pay Day which this year is 11.3%, up from 10.4% last year.

Jemima Olchawski, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “It’s incredibly alarming to see the mean gender pay gap widen in 2024 and shows that without concerted effort most women won’t see equal pay in our working lifetime. 

 “Today’s data confirms that the Gender Pay Gap increases with age as women take on more and more unpaid care work for children and older people.

Tomorrow, at her first Budget, our first female Chancellor in history can right this wrong by investing to finally address the motherhood penalty and set the UK on a path to close the Gender Pay Gap for good. 

 “The draft Employment Rights Bill and commitments to close the gap are important steps but today’s data clearly shows more must urgently be done. Our government must commit to a cross-government strategy to shrink the gender pay gap by 2030 – women cannot wait any longer.” 

Commenting on the Fawcett Society’s Equal Pay Day today (Wednesday), the day of the year women effectively stop getting paid because of the gender pay gap, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Our economy isn’t working for women. At current rates of progress, it will still take 16 years to close the gender pay gap.   

“This is why Labour’s Employment Rights Bill is so vital for women’s pay and equality. 

“The Bill will require large employers to set out clear action plans on how they will close their gender pay gaps, rather than just report what they are. 

“And we know women still take on the lion share of caring responsibilities – a key driver of the gender pay gap – so fixing care is critical to raising their pay. 

“The Employment Rights Bill will also introduce a fair pay agreement in social care, to stop the race to the bottom on pay and conditions. This will help recruit and retain staff.”   

The TUC says many of the other policies in the Employment Rights Bill – which begins its committee stage on Monday (25 November) – will help close the gender pay gap, including: 

  • Strengthening flexible working rights by introducing a day one right to work flexibly unless an employer can properly justify why this is not possible. 
  • Banning exploitative zero-hours contracts to help end the scourge of insecure work, which is particularly widespread in sectors like social care.  
  • Giving all employees day one rights on the job by scrapping qualifying time for basic rights, such as unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave.  
  • Extending redundancy and unfair dismissal protections for pregnant women and new parents. 

Read Fawcett’s explainer on the Gender Pay Gap here: 

thegenderpaygapexplainer_29.10.24.pdf

equalpayday2024_timetoclosethegapDownload

Gender Pay Gap: Free workshop to empower women to negotiate their worth

With new research laying bare the gender pay gap crisis across local authority areas, it’s evident there is a long way to go to ensure gender parity.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on wages and gender pay disparity has revealed that East Dunbartonshire officially has the biggest gender pay gap in Scotland, with men earning 30.6 per cent more than women in the area – over five times the Scotland average gap of 6.3 per cent.

It is followed closely by West Dunbartonshire, which has the second biggest gender pay gap in Scotland, more than triple the average, with men earning 19.6 per cent more than women in the area. 

The City of Edinburgh was also found to be below the national average, with a gap of 7.8 per cent.

Aiming to help empower women to negotiate for themselves and work to stem the tide of the imbalance, negotiation expert Florence Rolland is offering a free online workshop on September 11 designed to tackle the most important issues that women have when negotiating. Based on research into how and why women negotiate the way they do, it will cover problems women face and aims to give confidence to shine in any negotiation situation.

Florence said: “The figures that emerged this month sadly emphasise what we know to be the case, that the gender pay gap is unfortunately alive and well – and flourishing across not only the UK, but globally.

“Women are equipped with the necessary interpersonal skills to make great negotiators but tend to neglect negotiating for themselves due to a lack of confidence in their own abilities and self-worth. Fear of negative backlash can also make women more apprehensive to ask for more. Negotiation training can be a critical tool in combating this.

“I want to help empower women by improving their confidence and giving them the skills they need to improve their negotiation performance and in turn, be paid their true and deserved worth. I would encourage anyone who wants to learn how to negotiate better for themselves to sign up to this workshop.”

To book a space please visit: https://www.negotiate.co.uk/about-us/events/

Gender pay gap means women work first two months of the year unpaid

New TUC analysis reveals Women’s Pay Day – the day when the average woman stops working for free compared to the average man – is today (Wednesday)

  • In some industries and in some parts of the country where the gender pay gap is wider, women effectively work for free for even longer 
  • Union body says Labour’s New Deal for Working People would be “huge boost” for working women, by introducing fair pay agreements in social care, banning zero-hours contracts and giving all workers a day one right to flexible work 

New TUC analysis published today (Wednesday) reveals that the average woman effectively works for free for nearly two months of the year compared to the average man. 

This is because the gender pay gap for all employees currently stands at 14.3%. 

This pay gap means that working women must wait 52 days – nearly two months – before they stop working for free on Women’s Pay Day today (Wednesday). 

And the analysis also shows that at current rates of progress, it will take 20 years – until 2044 – to close the gender pay gap. 

Industrial gender pay gaps 

Gender pay gap reporting was introduced back in 2017. However, the TUC analysis shows that – some seven years later – there are still big gender pay gaps in many industries. 

And this gap persists even in jobs dominated by female workers like in education and care. 

The union body says this is partly because women are more likely to work part-time, where working fewer hours means they earn less overall. And also, because women tend to be employed in lower-paid roles than men. 

  • In education the gender pay gap is 21.3%, so the average woman effectively works for free for nearly a fifth of the year (78 days) until St Patrick’s Day, 17 March 2024. 
  • In health care and social work, where the gender pay gap is 12.6%, the average woman works for free for 46 days until Valentine’s Day, 14 February 2024. 

The longest wait for Women’s Pay Day comes in finance and insurance. The gender pay gap (27.9%) is the equivalent of a whopping 102 days, meaning women work for free until Wednesday 10 April 2024. 

Gender pay gap by age 

The TUC analysis shows that the gender pay gap affects women throughout their careers, from their first step on the ladder until they take retirement. 

The gender pay gap is widest for middle aged and older women: 

  • Women aged 40 to 49 have a gender pay gap of 17%, so work 62 days for free until Tuesday 2 March 2024. 
  • Women aged between 50 and 59 have the highest pay gap (19.7%) and work the equivalent of 72 days for free, until Monday 11 March 2024. 
  • Women aged 60 and over have a gender pay gap of 18.1%. They work 66 days of the year for free before they stop working for free on Wednesday 6 March 2024. 

The TUC says the gender pay gap widens as women get older, due to women being more likely to take on caring responsibilities. And that older women take a bigger financial hit for balancing work alongside caring for children, older relatives and/or grandchildren. 

Regional gender pay gaps 

The analysis shows that in some parts of the country gender pay gaps are even bigger, so their Women’s Pay Day is later in the year. 

  • The gender pay gap is largest in the South East of England (18.9%). Women in this region work 69 days for free and they work for free until Friday 8 March 2024. 
  • Women in the East of England (17.7% pay gap) and the East Midlands (17.4%) also work for free until next month (Monday 4 March and Sunday 3 March 2024). 

The TUC explains that regional variations in the pay gap are likely to be caused by differences in the types of jobs and industries that are most common in that part of the country, and gender differences in who does these jobs. 

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Everyone should be paid fairly for the job that they do. 

“It’s shameful that working women don’t have pay parity in 2024. And at current rates of progress, it will take another two decades to close the gender pay gap. 

“That’s not right. We can’t consign yet another generation of women to pay inequality. 

“It’s clear that just publishing gender pay gaps isn’t working. Companies must be required to publish and implement action plans to close their pay gaps. And bosses who don’t comply with the law should be fined. 

“Labour’s New Deal for Working People would be a huge boost to working women. 

“It would introduce a day one right to flexible working and fair pay agreements to boost pay and conditions in social care – which we know is a predominantly female workforce. 

“It would also see mandatory action plans to close the gender pay gap and extending reporting to disability and ethnicity pay gaps.” 

Gender pay gap lowest on record

Difference in wages narrower in Scotland than UK as a whole

Fair Work Secretary Neil Gray has welcomed figures showing the gender pay gap in Scotland has fallen to a record low.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings shows the gender pay gap in Scotland fell from 3% in 2022 to 1.7% in 2023 – the lowest since the series began in 1997. 

At the same time, the gap increased from 7.6% to 7.7% in the UK as a whole.

The ONS survey also shows full-time women’s weekly pay in Scotland rose 10.6% over the year – the largest annual increase of the 12 countries and regions of the UK.

Wages for full-time employees rose higher in Scotland with median weekly pay increasing 9.7% over the year to hit £702.80 in 2023.  The UK-wide figure was up 6.2% to £681.70.

The ONS survey was published ahead of Living Wage Week, which highlights its benefits to businesses, employees and the economy. In Scotland in 2022, 91% of over-18s were paid at least the real Living Wage – the highest rate of the four nations in the UK.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to improve women’s access to the workforce, including a series of actions to support women in entrepreneurship and expanded access to funded childcare for low-income families.

Fair Work Secretary Neil Gray said: “This survey shows Scotland continues to have a lower gender pay gap than the UK as a whole, which is welcome, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

“While employment law is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is committed to improving workers’ rights and conditions through our Fair Work approach, and encourage all employers to take action to tackle gender pay gaps in Scotland.

“Our National Strategy for Economic Transformation sets out a programme of action for a fairer and more equal society, including for employers to pay at least the real Living Wage and address pay and employment gaps – vital in tackling the cost of living crisis and in-work poverty, issues that can have a disproportionate effect on women.  

“It is only with the powers of an independent nation that we can use all the levers other governments have to tackle poverty and inequalities.”

Equal Pay Day: Making Work Work for Women Returners

Narrowing the Gender Pay Gap and supporting economic recovery in Scotland

 

Sunday 20 November 2022 is Equal Pay Day. From this day, women in the UK effectively stop  earning relative to men because of the gender pay gap. 

One of the reasons for the Gender Pay Gap is that women find it hard to go back to work and progress into higher-paid senior roles after a career break.

Women take career breaks for a number of reasons such as maternity, childcare, elderly care, disability, illness, relocation or menopause – and find it difficult to re-enter the workplace in line with their skills, aspirations and potential afterwards.  

Making Work Work 

Working with Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Flexible Working Scotland and other partners, the Challenges Group has helped 150 women to  address these challenges.

Making Work Work – for Women Returners is an innovative, award-winning programme which supports women to make empowered transitions back into work that works around  their families, commitments and lifestyles.

Over 90% of Making Work Work participants require part time or flexible work and over 70% have an SCQF level 10 or above (honours degree equivalent), while at the same time, 560k women managers are missing in the UK, according to recent CMI research on the  Everyone Economy.

Lynn Houmdi, Making Work Work co-Creator and Programme Manager said: “We work with women who  have management experience or aspirations because they have the greatest potential to achieve personal, organisational and social change once they return to work.

“Employers are missing out on these  women’s skills and experience due to perceptions and reality around the flexibility of roles, availability of  childcare and bias towards their age/career gaps.” 

Making Work Work – for Women Returners has supported over 150 women during the period January  2021 – November 2022.

In August 2022, we were able to analyse the data of 100 women, and our  outcomes were as follows: 

• 45% were employed (or had been successful in interviews and would start once their contract  was signed), and a further 9% were marked as self-employed (including women starting new  businesses). Headline: Over 50% (54%) are either in employment or self-employed. • A further 4% were volunteering and 9% were in further training. 

• 13% were actively applying; some of them had interviews scheduled. 

• 4% were not actively searching at that point, due to health reasons, childcare or other personal  reasons. 

This is a success rate of at least 80% Making Work Work participants progressing into or towards work. 

1 https://www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-and-insights/research/everyone-economy/

Making Work Work alumna, Zeme said: “Making Work Work for Women Returners equipped me with the  confidence I was missing since stopping work two years before when I became a parent.

“The course helped me learn about the power of networking and peer support. I even heard about the job I am now in  through the network I made! The support I received was invaluable. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend  the course to anyone who has been out of work and is looking for help getting back out there.” 

Alumna Lizzy said: “Making Work Work revolutionised my approach to job hunting by giving me support  to develop a clear focused strategy, confidence to know what I wanted from a role and a renewed  positivity in my own skills.” 

Delivering for women, delivering for the Scottish economy 

In recent evidence to the Scottish Parliament Covid-19 Recovery committee, Scottish charity, Close the  Gap said: “If women are to be enabled to re-enter the labour market, there is need for action to improve  access to high-quality flexible working; provide support with caring responsibilities, including greater  access to affordable and flexible childcare; develop gender sensitive upskilling and reskilling initiatives;  and provide better support for those experiencing long Covid.”2 

Close the Gap also highlight that tackling gender inequality in Scottish workplaces is worth a potential  £17bn to the Scottish economy. By supporting women on their return-to-work journey, Making Work  Work not only helps raise family incomes at a time of economic crisis; it also provides the market with a pool of talented and highly experienced women with refreshed skills in management and leadership.

This can contribute to economic recovery while increasing diversity in the workforce, and addressing the Gender Pay Gap so that in future an Equal Pay Day becomes a thing of the past. 

Any women in Scotland looking to return to work, or employers seeking to diversify their talent pool can get in touch with the Making Work Work team via:

https://www.makingworkwork.scot

Edinburgh gender pay gap “well above Scottish average”

  • In Edinburgh, men are paid 14.2% more than women – well above the Scottish average gender pay gap of 10.2%
  • East Dunbartonshire has the biggest gender pay gap in Scotland, with men being paid 26.9% more than women
  • Aberdeenshire is Scotland’s second worst area for gender pay gaps, with men enjoying 22.1% more pay than women

Edinburgh’s gender pay gap is well above the Scottish average, new research can reveal.

In Edinburgh, men are paid 14.2% more than women. The Scotland average gender pay gap is 10.2%

Following International Women’s Day, financial experts Forbes Advisor used new ONS data to explore the gender pay gap for full time employees in every local authority in Scotland to discover which areas have the worst gender pay gap of all.

RANKED: Gender pay gaps in Scotland from biggest to smallest

Scotland areaRankHow much more men earn than women (%)
East Dunbartonshire126.9
Aberdeenshire222.1
Inverclyde320.1
Renfrewshire418.6
Aberdeen City517.9
Moray617.1
Perth and Kinross716.9
Na h-Eileanan Siar815.8
South Ayrshire915.5
Clackmannanshire1015.0
City of Edinburgh1114.2
Argyll and Bute1213.6
East Lothian1313.6
Dundee City1411.6
Falkirk1511.0
Glasgow City1610.7
North Lanarkshire178.8
East Ayrshire187.7
Midlothian194.9
Fife203.4
South Lanarkshire213.3
West Lothian223.1
Scottish Borders232.3
Angus242.2
Stirling251.6
Highland260.9
North Ayrshire27-4.6
Dumfries and Galloway28-7.0
Scotland average 10.2

East Dunbartonshire has the biggest gender pay gap in Scotland. In East Dunbartonshire, men are paid 26.9% more than women – well over double Scotland’s average gender pay gap (10.2%).

Aberdeenshire has the second biggest pay gap in Scotland, with men earning 22.1% more than women – twice the Scottish average gender pay gap of 10.2%. Inverclyde has Scotland’s third biggest pay gap, with men raking in 20% more in wages than women.

Renfrewshire, Aberdeen City and Moray are also some of Scotland’s worst areas for gender pay gaps, with men earning 18.6%, 17.9% and 17.1% more than women respectively.

At the other end of the scale, Dumfries and Galloway and North Ayrshire in Scotland are the only areas in the country where women earn more than men. In Dumfries and Galloway, women earn 7% more than men, and in North Ayrshire, women earn 4.6% more than men.

The Scottish Highlands, Stirling and Angus also have smaller gender pay gaps than the rest of Scotland. In the Scottish Highlands, men earn 0.9% more than women, and in Stirling and Angus, they earn 1.6% and 2.2% more than women respectively.

A spokesperson for Forbes Advisor commented on the findings: “These figures shed light on the concerning gender inequality which still persists in Scotland.

“It’s not enough to tweet about gender equality in the wake of International Women’s Day, we all have a responsibility to ensure that everyone is equally compensated for their labour.

“Not only do men earn 10.2% more than women across Scotland as a whole, but in local authorities such as East Dunbartonshire, men are earning up to 26.9% more than women, which shows that we have a long way to go before achieving fair pay.”

Gender pay gap means women work for free for two months of the year

New TUC analysis reveals Women’s Pay Day – the day when the average woman starts getting paid compared to the average man – was Friday 25 February. In Scotland, the date was 11 February.

  • In parts of the country where the gender pay gap is wider, women work for free for longer. And in finance and insurance, women wait until 27 April for their Women’s Pay Day 
  • TUC calls on ministers to boost rights to flexible working, and for cash injection for childcare sector 

The average woman effectively works for free for nearly two months of the year compared to the average man, according to new analysis published by the TUC. 

The gender pay gap for all employees is 15.4 per cent. This pay gap means that women wait 56 days before they start to get paid on Women’s Pay Day today. 

Industrial gender pay gaps 

Despite the introduction of gender pay gap reporting, the analysis published by the TUC today shows that there are still big gender pay gaps in many industries. 

Even in jobs that tend to be dominated by female workers like education and social care the gender pay gap persists. 

In these sectors women get paid much less per hour on average than men, both because they are more likely to be in part-time jobs or are in lower-paid roles.  

  • In education the gender pay gap is 25.4 per cent, so the average woman effectively works for free for more than a quarter of the year (93 days) and has to wait until Saturday 2 April 2022 before she starts getting paid compared to the average man. 
  • In health care and social work jobs, where the gender pay gap is 18.3 per cent, the average woman waits 67 days for her Women’s Pay Day on Monday 7 March 2022. 

The longest wait for Women’s Pay Day comes in finance and insurance. The gender pay gap (32.3 per cent) is the equivalent of 118 days, meaning it’s nearly a third of the year before Women’s Pay Day finally kicks in on 27 April 2022. 

Generational gender pay gaps 

The TUC analysis shows that the gender pay gap is widest for older women, so they have to wait longer for their Women’s Pay Day. 

  • Women aged between 40 and 49 have a pay gap of 21.3 per cent and work for free until Friday 18 March 2022. 
  • And women aged 50 and 59 have the highest gender pay gap (21.8 per cent). They work 80 days of the year for free before they are paid on Sunday 20 March 2022. 

Regional gender pay gaps 

The analysis also shows that in some parts of the country gender pay gaps are even bigger, so their Women’s Pay Day is later in the year. 

  • The gender pay gap is largest in the south east (18.9 per cent). Women in this region work 69 days for free and their pay day isn’t until Wednesday 9 March. 
  • And women in the south west (16.6 per cent) and the east midlands (16.8 per cent pay gap) have to wait until next week (Tuesday 1 March and Wednesday 2 March) for their pay days. 

Regional variations in the gender pay gap are likely to be caused by differences in the types of jobs and industries that are most common in that part of the UK, says the TUC. 

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s shocking that working women still don’t have pay parity. At current rates of progress, it will take nearly 30 more years to close the gender pay gap. 

“It’s clear that just publishing gender pay gaps isn’t enough. Companies must be required to explain what steps they’ll take to close their gender pay gaps – and bosses who don’t comply with the law should be fined. 

“The last two years have shown us that employers can do more to help women balance caring responsibilities and work. Flexible working is vital to mums keeping their jobs and progressing at work and is our best chance of closing the gender pay gap. 

“All jobs must be advertised with the possible flexible options clearly stated, and all workers must have the legal right to work flexibly from their first day in a job.” 

Childcare and parental leave 

Frances added: “The gender pay gap widens dramatically once women become mums. We need more funding for affordable, good quality childcare to support working parents – along with better wages and recognition for childcare workers. 

“And both parents need to be able to share childcare more easily. Without better rights to well-paid leave, mums will continue to take on the lion-share of caring responsibilities – and continue to take a financial hit. 

“We need a complete overhaul of the shared parental leave system. It’s not an affordable option for most working families. Dads need leave they can take in their own right. It shouldn’t rely on mums giving up some of their maternity leave.”