How to reduce the gender-based pay gap

A report by the Women and Work Commission found on average, females in the UK are paid 22.6 per cent less per hour than their male counterparts – an increase from 21.9 per cent in 2007.

Women with careers in areas such as fund management, stock broking and futures trading suffered the largest pay deficit, with an average earning of 60 per cent less than men in the same roles.

Meanwhile, figures from Statistics Finland revealed men who are employed in the private sector earn an average of €3,500, compared to women who bring home an average of €2,700.

The gender pay gap in Finland starts to widen before the age of 30 and continues to increase until retirement age, with males at the end of their career taking home around €1,000 more a month than their female counterparts, further studies by the Union of Salaried Employees unearthed.

Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show it is a similar story around the world. Korea has the largest gender pay discrepancy, with men earning an average of 38 per cent more than women. Males in Japan make around 33 per cent extra than females, while in Germany the average difference is 23 per cent and in the US it is 19 per cent.

To tackle these issues in Britain, some are calling for HR departments to offer more flexibility and support for working parents. Elizabeth Gardiner, policy and parliamentary campaigns officer at Working Families, told Personnel Today more training needs to be given in this area.

"Allowing employees to ask their managers whether they can work flexible hours is fine, but managers need to know how best to manage those employees," she stated.

PA HR expert Jonathon Hogg comments:

When Cranfield reveals only 12% of FTSE Board positions are held by women, is it surprising that a gender-based pay gap still exists? Of course not.

It is disappointing that despite increasing awareness, more hasn't been done to change this position.

Much is written about the gender pay gap and the link to women returning to work after maternity leave. But this is missing the point. The question is not if a women chooses to return to work on a part-time basis, or in a less challenging role (which of course will be rewarded at a lower level). The question is why women who return to the same job (or who never go on maternity leave) are disadvantaged in comparison to men when their level of competence is the same.

The answer may be frighteningly simple - men negotiate harder for reward packages than women. But who is responsible for monitoring and controlling the internal comparability of salaries, and who signs-off on the level of reward for new recruits? HR has a key role to play in re-balancing this playing field, but only when those 12% of senior managers more appropriately reflects the proportion of working women will real change occur.

For more information about our human resources consulting, please click here.