Gender wage gap: why does it exist?

A question I have been asking myself for years is why do we have a wage gap between men and women? What are the factors that affect how much more money men make then women? Are there studies that show women’s work ethic as being lower than men’s? Is it based on how we are socialized when we are younger and the job opportunities handed to us? That’s what this blog is for to make you aware of the reasons and what can be done to change this.

A reason for this is that there are more men in senior roles than there are women. Those in senior roles tend to receive a higher income than those in junior positions and this contributes negatively to the gender pay gap. The root of the problem goes back to the 1950s with the ideas that men should go to work and women stay home and look after children so that men can focus on work and nothing else. Senior roles are jobs that are assumed to need long hour and constant availability so they cannot be done flexibly or part-time. Advances in technology and globalization have contributed to making work days longer by extending them to 10 or 12 hours. Those who work in these long-hour senior works are those who increase the gender pay gap as it is shown that these long hours have been inherently gendered. However, there is a solution to this problem designing senior roles that work for everyone. It’s the 21st century and times have change since the 1950s so this pattern of work doesn’t fit anymore and needs to change. Senior roles need to adapt to the workforce that we have now, 90% of workers either have a or want a flexible and part-time working job. This workforce includes men, women, parents and carers, all those that need or want to work but aren’t able to dedicate their whole lives to it. There are many excuses set in place like part-time work will lead to workers wanting a day off, or that they’d miss information if they aren’t there. This is all false as each job can be designed differently to accommodate different needs all you need is imagination and a lot of collaboration.

Women are sometimes blamed saying they ‘chose’ to care for children so they obviously end up in part-time jobs, little skills and fewer progression opportunities. After childbirth it is seen that the gender gap does increase and by the time their first child is 20 a women’s hourly wages are around a third below men’s. It is estimated that differences in rate of part-time and full-time paid work account for more than half of that gap, especially among the highly-educated. This whole idea is also drawn from a similar assumption to the first reason, that part time jobs are seen as less senior and thus are automatically downgraded. By putting part-time work in a category as ‘women’s choice’ only suggests that women are responsible for their lower earnings and takes the stress and pressure from other employers so they do nothing about it. Don’t think that the argument is one sided either. Men are finding it extremely difficult to ask for part-time work as a result of the societal expectations. There is research showing men, specifically young fathers, wouldn’t mind a pay cut if it meant being able to stay at home with their family. The solution to this is to create more flexible jobs that allow women and men to balance ambition with caring responsibilities. Part-times roles need to become a more attractive to career driven people. The first step is redesigning jobs so that part-time doesn’t mean doing a full-time job but earning part-time pay. This setup is unfair to a lot of people. The second step is to redesign all jobs and ensure that career progression in part-time jobs is not only acceptable but also aspirational.

Another reason is that women choose to work in lower-paid jobs as those are traditionally done by women as the skills required are seen as more ‘feminine’ e.g people skills and caring skills. So, it’s very common that women will ‘choose’ to work as nurses, teachers, or shop assistants, while men ‘choose’ to be surgeons, construction workers or engineers. The main issue in this situation is that we undervalue traditionally female skills, which is going to be a difficult mentality to change (although possible). Another reason women are drawn to these jobs is that these jobs usually offer more flexibility and are more family-friendly. This perception that it is a choice to prioritise children over work, rather than it being due to lack of viable alternatives makes employers less worried to change it as they believe this and the gender wage gap is just a fact of life. The solution is to open up all sectors to part-time and flexible working. With all the issues listed above flexible working seems to be the main solution. By opening up traditionally male sectors and occupants to flexible working it would encourage more women to work in them and more men to switch to part-time work. An added thing would be to also build flexible progression into these roles so that part-time workers are able to develop their careers as well.

A final reason for this ongoing issue is that men are payed more for carrying out the same role. This is different to the gender wage gap which is based on the average hourly pay rate for men and the average hourly pay rate for women. This is an example of the equal pay gap which is due to discrimination in the workplace as men and women are payed different amounts to do the same exact job. It is very common to confuse the two but they are not the same thing even if it does feed into the gender wage gap. The solution to this problem is rather simple, stop paying women less than men for the same role! Ever since the Equal Pay Act of 1970 the law has been clear that men and women should be payed equally then why has this law not been followed? Well there is still discrimination that arises from the old assumptions about women’s roles.

It’s difficult but as a society we really need to be rid of these assumptions and bias that we have towards women and create more opportunities where they don’t have to ‘give up’ on a career in order to have children. Women’s skills and roles in the workplace must be more valued and given the same level of respect as those of men. The change also needs to happen for men so that they can also feel authorized to care for children too.