Gender Wage Gap & Its Importance

What Is the Gender Wage Gap & Why Is It Important

In this article, we will learn about:

• The meaning of Gender Wage Gap
• Examples of Gender Wage Gap
• Gender Wage Gap in India
• Gender Wage Gap Calculation: How Gender Wage Gap is Calculated?
• Why Gender Wage Gap exists
• How to close the Gender Wage Gap
• What is being done to overcome the Gender Wage Gap
• Is the Gender Wage Gap the Same for All Women?

What is the Gender Wage Gap?

Gender wage gap defines the average difference between the amount of wage that working men and women receive from their employer. Often the wage gap represents that the women tend to receive less wage for the same position than men.

Gender Wage Gap Examples

Here are some examples of the wage gap:

Now, assume that there is a corporate setting, and there is a male and a female, the same in terms of qualification, named Jack and Sarah. Both of them have the exact same qualifications and they are each other''s peers; their title is software engineer. They both work for a tech company. Still, this company favors Jack and gives him a higher wage consistently than what is given to Sarah for the exact same job.

It can happen for many reasons, but one study found that, on average, men are more likely to negotiate their starting salary or get raises than women. And that, as a result of this, the cumulative effect over time is that the negotiations they have will contribute to a wage gap between male and female staff doing exactly the same role at the same level.

In addition to these, a woman takes leave for maternity when she delivers a child. Upon resuming work, she is not promoted or given increments to her salary, as her male counterparts who didn''t take such breaks have been. This therefore contributed to the gender wage gap.

Gender Wage Gap in India

The case of a gender wage gap varies differently in different states of India. According to Satta Consulting, ""in Uttar Pradesh on average women earn about 26% less per month than men while in Chhattisgarh women earn about 29% less and in Bihar about 28% less. In comparison, in Telangana on average women earn 50% less than men, and in Tamil Nadu, it''s 44% less.""

Gender Wage Gap Calculation: How Is the Gender Wage Gap Calculated?

If you want to calculate the wage gap between both genders, you can calculate it as follows:

GPG = 100% x (Average male total remuneration – Average female total remuneration) / Average male total remuneration

Why Does the Gender Wage Gap Exist?

There may be various reasons behind the gender wage gap''s existence in society. One of them can be different patterns of workforce engagement by women and men.

According to an ILO publication, it can be because of working hours. They quote:

""In the Global wage report 2018/19: What lies behind the gender pay gaps, the ILO highlights that women work on a part-time basis more than men do in all but five of the 73 countries where data are available.""

This is often associated with women taking up more of the unpaid family responsibilities. On one hand, women might be in part-time employment as a consequence of lack of affordable and sufficient childcare. On the other hand, women''s possibilities of full-time employment might be more limited as compared with men''s, resulting in women taking part-time both employment opportunities.

Part-time work does not always come with benefits proportional to those of full-time work, which can impact the remuneration package over time.

Other reasons may include under-representation in leadership and time out of the workforce.

How to Close the Gender Wage Gap

To close the gender pay gap, companies can adopt the following measures:

• Ensure that the pay is overall transparent.
• Re-assess promotions if necessary.
• Include fringes and benefits.
• Increase the pay of female employees in the company to eliminate the gap.
• Offer parental leave and influence men to also take leave to look after the children.
• Provide facilities for childcare.
• Provide telecommuting options.

What Is Being Done to Close the Wage Gap Between Genders?

The good news is that many laws and legislations already exist, which can prevent gender wage discrimination. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, if enforced the right way, can ensure that all companies provide equal pay to their employees for equal work.

Is the Gender Wage Gap the Same for All Women?

The gender wage gap sometimes may also affect different women differently based on their race and ethnicity. For example, black women earn 70% as much as white men. In comparison, Hispanic women only make 65% of the income of what white men earn.

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