Views: Real change needed to close gender pay gap

APD NEWS

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This week Britain led the world in washing its dirty linen in public.

The Government forced employers with more than 250 workers to publish information on the gender pay gap - the difference between what men and women working at the same place earn on average.

As widely reported on Sky News and elsewhere, the figures are shocking even if they hardly come as a shock.

Eight out of ten companies and public sector bodies pay men more than women. The average man earns 9.8% more than his female counterpart.

On average, men are still getting better paid jobs than women

The finance, education and construction sectors perform particularly badly while publishing, some restaurant chains, and charities do well (although they may not be paying either gender big wages in the first place).

It is important to stress that this is not a question of unequal pay - men being paid more than women to do the same or equivalent jobs. There is a law against that.

The gender pay gap exposes that men are getting the lion's share of top and better paid jobs.

For our politicians the argument is over: closing the gender pay gap is a top priority.

Companies release gender pay gap figures

Labour introduced legislation to force disclosure by employers, but it is this Conservative Government which has implemented it.

Prime Minister Theresa May has described the situation as a "burning injustice" and demanded more action to "close the gap for good within a generation".

The Conservative approach seems to be to promote change by naming and shaming employers who don't put it right.

If it comes to power, Labour proposes fining companies each day that they have an imbalance.

Theresa May has described the situation a 'burning injustice'

This then is a change that society as a whole is backing and, just like the arrival of women in the workplace on a supposedly equal footing with men, it points to continued social change and evolution.

For a start, these days most couples and families rely on having two major earners, whereas only a minority did 70 years ago. Back then, for example, women who had children automatically gave up their jobs in the diplomatic and civil service. These days there are repeated efforts by politicians to expand paid parental leave to both mothers and fathers.

The implication of this is clear - men will have to stay at home more to look after the children, while the women go to work. As an aside, I would just point out that the women CEOs I have come across, including Dame Helena Morrissey, rely on a husband to take on the work of running the family.

Nothing wrong in that. But if I may make another controversial observation, I'd advise working women who want to have children to think about doing it early in their 20s and 30s rather than later.

Lots of men only seem to get serious about their careers in their 30s, just the moment to conveniently jump over women on the career ladder who are absent on maternity leave. Nor is IVF in your 40s guaranteed success.

The only way the gender gap can close is if there are a lot more women in senior roles as departmental bosses and CEOs.

Having worked in the media for four decades, I have never been aware of gender discrimination and I have had bosses of both genders. The point though is that there have been more men bosses than women.

If this is to change rapidly, employers will have to take action, most likely with some form of positive discrimination to promote women. Salaries for women will have to go up. Or is the solution, as the BBC seems to think, to cut the pay of the men?

The five companies with the worst median pay gap

Employers in the building and engineering trades will find closing the gap particularly hard since at present those applying to take up these trades are overwhelmingly male.

Over time, broader education and opportunities for women will improve the situation, but not at the speed which the politicians are demanding. The financial and IT sectors aside, it is noticeable that the younger an employing business is, the less likely it is to have a big gender pay problem.

Sky, for example, compares favourably with the older BBC and ITV. Put simply, modern businesses have modern attitudes rather than a legacy of old fashioned institutional prejudices.

That said, the big bosses pulling down the big pay packets and big bonuses are mostly blokes. Until that boys' club is broken up, the gender pay gap won't go away.

Closing the gender pay gap isn't just a question of shaking your head at statistics in the news. It will require real changes in the way we, both men and women, live and work.

(SKY)