In association with Made In Dagenham, Certificate 15, at cinemas October 1st
Instinctually, it feels like we have come a long way in the fight for equality since the lady machinists at the Dagenham Ford factory made their stand for equal pay in 1968, but it would seem that there is still a way to go. At the time of the 1970 Equal Pay Act there was a huge 31% differential between male and female pay for the same job. What is shocking is that, despite a wealth of legislation in place to support equal rights in the workplace, the average pay gap between men and women in the UK stands at 21%. In the US the gap is even wider at 22%.
When looking at these figures it is important to note that they do not take into account differences in job choices or hours worked. Some of the disparity can be explained through women's own choices. A lot of the difference in earnings within an industry, such as law, comes from women choosing lower paid, support staff or part time roles. The question remains as to why women are choosing these lower paid roles. Can it be that women value motherhood above career success and are prepared to subjugate professional ambitions to the family?
Part of the problem here is the lack of a flexible approach to working in many organisations. Long hours at your desk are often the cultural norm for valued employees and for women who shoulder more of the childcare burden this is not always practical. Technological advances and the general shift towards remote working should benefit women greatly and allow them the chance to make up hours lost. The sacrifice here has to be free time in the evenings and at weekends. Is this a sacrifice worth making for most women?
The motherhood issue aside, women straight out of university or college are still being paid less than their male counterparts. The Harvard Business Review found this gap to be 5%. Narrower, yes, but it simply should not exist at all. Some commentators have claimed that women tend to rely heavily on stereotypically feminine skills in the workplace to succeed and are more likely to find aggressive pay negotiations a challenge. That aside, the fact remains that men seem to be more highly valued as employees than women. The question is: how we do force a change?
Pay secrecy is undoubtedly a big issue in the fight for equality. In the public sector professions, where pay scales are transparent, there is far less of an issue. Forcing companies to publish the earnings of their staff would be a great step forward. This has certainly been the case in Sweden where pay transparency laws have seen the gender pay gap narrow to only 9%.
The fact is that this is not an issue which is going to resolve itself. Standing back and waiting for someone else to hand us the prize won't work. It is therefore up to us to not only negotiate full value for our work, but also to offer solutions to our employers on how we can be most productive. An organisation is always going to value an employee who actively seeks to offer more.
