Why are we still talking about the gender pay gap?

​The gender pay gap. That little thing.

It’s something that people talk about or that features in the news from time to time. But beyond that it’s not something more people think about regularly.

But that needs to change.

We need more talk about the gender pay gap, otherwise nothing will change. And we need to change. Right now in the UK women are paid 14.8% less than men, for the same jobs. Why? How can we still think this is ok?

Change is happening, but it’s slow, and there’s still a long way to go. We all need to have more conversation about the gender pay gap and we all need to take responsibility for our role in perpetuating the gap.

In my opinion, we aren’t having enough conversations about the gender pay gap.

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What is the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap simply put, is the difference in salary between men and women. When you put it like that it sounds like an absurd thing - why in this day and age should there be a difference in pay simply based on someone’s gender?

Sadly, though it’s part of the world we live in and despite the attention given to it by the media, change is only happening at a surface level. In fact, 43% of full time jobs have a higher gender pay gap than this time a year ago.

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Why does it matter?

I’m sure for many it’s something which doesn’t filter into their day-to-day thoughts. But working in recruitment, the disparity is something I see far too often.

But we should be thinking about it, and talking about it. We shouldn’t be tolerating it.

22 November is a day which should be ingrained in all women’s minds. That’s the day that we start working for free. Yes, that’s right, a whole 5 weeks of the year, more than one month’s salary we give away.

That’s why we’re still talking about it, because it still matters, it’s still an issue and there’s still work to be done.

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What’s the impact?

Sometimes when we look at global trends or nationwide statistics it’s easy to forget that there are real people on the receiving end. Real people whose real lives are being impacted by this disparity.

Across a woman’s lifetime the gender pay gap means they’ll earn significantly less than their male counterparts. That means their retirement fund, their savings, their opportunities to invest and create more wealth are all negatively impacted.

This is amplified for part time workers, where the pay gap is significant and the number of women in part time roles vs men is disproportionate. Earning less than their male counterparts restricts women’s freedom and perpetuates women as the primary caregiver.

The gender pay gap isn’t just a financial issue, it’s a societal one.

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Are we making progress?

The good news is that change is happening. In 2003 the overall gender pay gap was 25.5%, today it stands at 14.3%.

But the concern is how long it’ll take to eradicate it all together. Current research shows that it’ll take anywhere from 20 to 50 years to close the gap entirely. That means women entering the workforce now will be in their late 40s at the earliest before being paid what they’re truly worth.

Organisations with more than 250 employees are required to report their gender pay gap, but there are no penalties or incentives for minimising that gap. It just means that we have more transparency on the issue…at a certain level.

What we can see is that parenthood is the trigger point. The gap between men and women in their 20s and 30s exists but is minimal, it’s in their 40s that the differences start. This directly correlates with when women take maternity leave and, in many cases, reduce their working hours. On average it takes 10 years for a working mother’s career to get back on track and return to the same, or higher level of seniority after having children. It’s easy to see how that impacts financially.

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Let’s take a closer look at the statistics:

●For those in associate professional and technical occupations the gap has decreased from 12.1% to 11.5%

●Those in professional occupations has seen the gap decrease from 9.3% to 8.3%

● The gap for full-time workers increased from 7.6% to 7.7%

●Financial services has one of the highest gender pay gaps of 22.7%

●81% of full-time jobs with at least 50,000 workers has a gender pay gap that favours men

● Women in the UK earn 86p to every pound earned by men

● There are only 2 full-time jobs in the UK with no reported gender pay gaps- senior care workers and national government administrative occupations

But things are slowly moving in the right direction. 57% of full-time jobs have decreased their gender pay gap since 2022. We can console ourselves with that small glimmer of light.

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What more can I do?

I hope that’s the question you’re asking yourself right now. Because that’s what we all need to be asking ourselves in order to make real, lasting change.

There are 2 answers I have to this question. The first is awareness. Unless people understand the situation and what it means for them, their mothers, sisters, aunts, and daughters then they’ll continue to turn a blind eye.

The plaster needs to be ripped off, and we all need to encourage conversations around the issue and its repercussions.

The second thing you can do is take responsibility. As leaders, managers, business owners - we need to lead by example. We need to look at the gender pay gap in our workplaces and we need to challenge the status quo.

Is it going to cost you more? Most definitely. But that’s not a reason to shy away from it. Because it’s about paying someone for their true value, not what the existing imbalanced market says someone is worth.

If you want your children or grandchildren to grow up in a society where they’re paid what they’re worth, where their lifetime financial well-being isn’t skewed because of their gender. We all need to play our part.

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So why are we still talking about the gender pay gap? The question should be, how can we not talk about it?

The gender pay gap shouldn’t exist, it’s that simple. But it relies on one basic premise - paying all of your people fairly.

Until we’re all doing that, then the gap will continue to exist, and women will continue to be penalised because of their gender.

That’s why we’re still talking about it, and that’s why we need to continue to talk about it.