Women at Work: On Pay Gap, Gender Equity, and Current State of Women in the Workforce

According to The World Bank’s latest report, women earn just 77 cents for every $1 paid to men. Last year, only 29 women held CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies, yet this is a record high compared to previous years.

When it comes to the state of women in the workplace, there have been significant improvements in some areas in the past few years. However, they are still severely underrepresented and underpaid compared to their male counterparts. The Current State

Achieving gender equity in the workplace is not just in women’s interest. With women comprising more than half of the world’s population, the alienation of women could stifle economic strides. A 2015 report by Mckinsey shows that gender equity could contribute $12 trillion to the world economy by 2025.

The World of Work Outlook for Women in 2024 report by Manpowergroup reveals that for every 100 men promoted to managerial positions in 2023, only 87 women achieved the same. Women tend to prefer more flexibility than management traditionally offers, leading 60% of women to consider leaving their jobs this year.

Leadership diversity promotes innovation and subsequently improves profits. Yet, women in the workplace continue to lag with a persisting pay gap and all-toocommonly compromised workplace safety. While women are increasingly reaching leadership positions, women of color remain underrepresented.

The Question of Workplace Safety

A number of governments have laws prohibiting workplace sexual harassment, but only 39 out of the 151 have laws against harassment outside of the office. While women have some workplace protections, no such shield exists in public transportation, posing work commute challenges for women.

Aside from physical safety, everyday biases and microaggressions in the office can severely affect women’s mental health and careers, according to Mckinsey’s Women in the Workplace report. The report found that women face workplace microaggressions more than their male counterparts. Working women are twice as likely to be mistaken as juniors and deal with comments about their emotional states. The situation worsens when considering women from marginalized communities.

Workplace hostility discourages women from proposing ideas, raising concerns, volunteering for projects, and taking professional risks. The study also found that 78% of women develop protective measures — like modifying behavior or codeswitching — to blend in and deter negative attention. The situation is more dire for Black women and LGBTQ+ employees, with the former twice as likely to codeswitch and the latter nearly thrice likely to feel pressured to change their appearances.

Pay Gap

According to the World Bank’s report, the ever-enduring pay gap for women in the global workplace is much wider than experts had initially thought. Of the 98 governments with laws mandating equal pay for all genders, only 35 have enforced mechanisms to address the gap. Only about half the women in the countries that experts examined have access to high-paying positions and equal pay.

The Manpowergroup report revealed that only 52% of businesses have declared their attempts to achieve pay equity are on track. The other 48% have yet to make changes or have fallen behind.

Women in Leadership

According to the Mckinsey report, women remained underrepresented in the corporate landscape throughout the last nine years. However, the number of women in top management positions increased from 17% to 28% since 2015. There are also more women at the president and vice president levels than before.

Overall progress for women’s workplace advancement remains slow; women’s representation in these positions has increased by 3-4%. Additionally, more highlevel female professionals have resigned in recent years, leaving fewer women in line for top managerial positions.

The Role of Flexibility

Post-pandemic increases in remote work opportunities bore increased flexibility, letting more and more women pursue career-related ambitions. According to the Mckinsey report, one in five working women claim improved workplace flexibility has allowed them to continue holding jobs with no decline in work time.

Many women report that hybrid and remote work has mitigated burnout and improved focus. This model promotes better work-life balance for working women, and many don’t want to see a shift back to traditional office spaces anytime soon.