Gender wage parity could be a century away
Pay gap between sexes has closed by only 3 per cent in past decade, report says
Women around the world will earn less than men for the next 118 years if present trends in pay inequity persist, the World Economic Forum predicts.
The global pay gap between men and women closed by a mere 3 per cent over the past decade, noticeably stalling after 2009-10, according to the forum’s annual Global Gender Gap report.
The slow progress means women are only now earning what men earned nearly a decade ago: $11,000 on average. Meanwhile, men’s average pay has nearly doubled to $21,000 worldwide.
As the global economy becomes increasingly automated, “we need to create a world where women’s contributions and ideals are as valued as those of men,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the forum, best known for its annual meeting of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
“Gender parity in our thinking and actions will be critical in helping to ensure that the future is served by humanity and not threatened by it,” Schwab said in a statement.
The report, which also looks at women’s progress in education, health and political empowerment, found Canada ranked 30th out of the 145 nations surveyed.
The study was conducted before Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fulfilled his campaign promise of appointing an equal number of men and women to his first cabinet. Only four other countries have ministerial parity, the forum noted. When asked why he made gender parity a cabinet goal, Trudeau famously quipped: “Because it’s 2015.”
Around the world, the Nordic nations remain the most gender-equal societies, led by Iceland, Norway and Finland, which rank first, second and third, respectively, the World Economic Forum said.
The least equitable are Syria, Pakistan and Yemen, which rank 143rd, 144th and 145th, respectively, the forum’s report found. Women in Yemen are unable to leave the house without the permission of a male relative, a forum blog noted.
A surprising ranking went to the African nation of Rwanda, which came in sixth. Much of the reason for this is due to the Rwanda genocide of 1994, which devastated the male population, leaving women to run the country. Two-thirds of Rwanda’s parliament is now made up of women.
The country also scores high on women’s labour-force participation rates and on equal pay for work of equal value.
Globally, women earn less than men despite achieving higher levels of education, the forum report noted. Indeed, women now outnumber men in universities in 100 of the countries surveyed, yet few of them hold the kind of skilled or leadership roles that come with bigger pay packages. “Companies and governments need to implement new policies to prevent this continued loss of talent and, instead, leverage it for boosting growth and competitiveness,” said Saadia Zahidi, head of the Global Challenge on Gender Parity at the World Economic Forum.
American actress Jennifer Lawrence, 25, highlighted the problem of talented women earning less after the Sony hacking scandal revealed last month the sought-after star was paid far less than her male co-stars in the movie American Hustle.
Lawrence blamed herself for not pushing harder in salary negotiations with movie executives for fear of appearing to be “a spoiled brat.”
The U.S. ranked 28th on the World Economic Forum’s gender gap list.
On a global level, there’s no simple answer to closing the gender gap, Ceri Parker, editor of the World Economic Forum blog wrote.
Developed countries should support affordable child care and parental leave, with better protections for low-wage and part-time workers, while developing countries need le- gal reforms to give women equal rights in land ownership, inheritance and access to credit, Parker wrote on the blog.
Meanwhile, businesses can set targets to recruit and promote women, introduce mentorship programs and establish transparent salary bands to reduce gender pay gaps, the blog post suggested.