Yesterday marked International Women’s Day, (IWD) which celebrates both how far we have come in terms of gender equality, and also, reminds us of how much further we need to go. Yet this year, the spirit of unity feels stronger. Movements like #MeToo and #Timesup have foregrounded womens' fight against sexual harassment, it’s been 100 years since the suffragettes won us the right to vote in Britain and headlines are consistently pointing out the fact that women are asking for what they deserve – equality.
But, while women around the world passionately continue to fight for their rights, the statistics are dampening. Females in the UK and across the world are still underpaid. According to a new report by the TUC, women in the UK effectively work for free for more than two months a year due to the gender pay gap. Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which examined full and part-time workers found that the pay gap stands at 18.4%. “This … means that women effectively work for free for the first 67 days of the year,” said the TUC.
These concerning figures also put the UK in the ‘worst 10 countries’ list for gender pay gap, when compared to other EU countries. Spotahome, who examined Eurostat Gender Pay Gap Statistics and created a GPG score for countries in Europe, (the higher the score the smaller the pay gap) demonstrated that the UK is lagging in this area.
# | Best 10 countries | GPG score | Worst 10 countries | GPG score |
1 | Luxembourg | 10.00 | Estonia | 0.00 |
2 | Italy | 10.00 | Czech Republic | 2.06 |
3 | Romania | 9.86 | Germany | 2.29 |
4 | Belgium | 9.53 | Austria | 2.43 |
5 | Poland | 8.97 | United Kingdom | 2.85 |
6 | Slovenia | 8.79 | Slovakia | 3.41 |
7 | Macedonia FYROM | 8.32 | Portugal | 4.25 |
8 | Croatia | 7.71 | Switzerland | 4.30 |
9 | Ireland | 6.07 | Iceland | 4.39 |
10 | Sweden | 6.03 | Finland | 4.49 |
The Government’s prompt that is gender pay gap reporting legislation, which comes into force in April, will hopefully bring solutions that can equal out the gap. In the meantime, the conversations women are sparking around equality, in their workplaces, online and in their hometowns, continue to push the issue.
Today, women in Spain are abandoning their workplaces to participate in a nationwide 24-hour ‘feminist strike’ to highlight the social and economic gap between men and women. The slogan ‘if we stop, the world stops’ accompanies hundreds of marchers today, who are being supported by 10 unions and many of Spain’s top female politicians.
Businesses across the world are also celebrating female’s contribution to the workforce. To celebrate IWD, British Airways operated the UK’s biggest ever all-female flight. A French newspaper, Libération is also drawing attention to France’s gender pay gap of 25%, by selling their edition today with different prices for men and women. Women will receive a 25% discount.
Industries – from classical music to firefighting – are also bringing attention to the contributions of female workers. In fact, London's Fire Commissioner, Dany Cotton is urging companies to take action to reduce stereotypes in the industry. She told ITV news: “I have actually written to the makers of 'Fireman Sam' and asked them on his 30th birthday to reconsider naming him 'Firefighter Sam' to join in on the inclusive nature.”
As many firms look to create better inclusion policies, Executive Grapevine have rounded up some of the best companies that are taking strides to empower female workers.
Click next to see them…
