WUNRN
EMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL AFFAIRS &
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
EUROPEAN
UNION - GENDER PAY GAP - CAUSES
There is a number of complex and often interrelated factors that explain the
existence of the gender pay gap.
Direct
discrimination
- Some women are paid less than men for doing the
same job. (This factor only explains a small part of the gender
pay gap, due to the effectiveness of the EU and national legislation.)
The undervaluing of
women’s work
- More frequently women earn less than men for doing
jobs of equal value. One of the main causes is the way
women's competences are valued compared to men's.
- Jobs requiring similar skills, qualifications or
experience tend to be poorly paid and undervalued when they are dominated
by women rather than by men. For example, the (mainly female) cashiers in
a supermarket usually earn less than the (mainly male) employees involved
in stacking shelves and other more physical tasks.
- In addition the evaluation of performance, and hence
pay level and career progression, may also be biased in favour of men. For
example, where women and men are equally well qualified, more value can be
attached to responsibility for capital than to responsibility for people.
Segregation in the
labour market
- The gender pay gap is also reinforced by the segregation
in the labour market. Women and men still tend to work in
different jobs. On the one hand, women and men often predominate in
different sectors. On the other hand, within the same sector or company
women predominate in lower valued and lower paid occupations.
- Women often work in sectors where their work is lower
valued and lower paid than those dominated by men. More than 40% of women
work in health, education and public administration. This is twice as much
as the share of men in the same sectors. When we look at the health and
social work sector alone, 80% of those working in this sector are women.
- Moreover, women are frequently employed as
administrative assistants, shop assistants or low skilled or unskilled
workers — these occupations accounting for almost half of the female
workforce. Many women work in low-paying occupations, for example,
cleaning and care work.
- Women are under-represented in managerial and senior
positions. For example, women represent only 32% of managers in companies
within the EU, 10% of members of management boards of the largest
companies, and 29% of scientists and engineers across Europe.
Traditions and
stereotypes
- Segregation is frequently linked to traditions
and stereotypes. Whilst in some cases this may reflect personal
choices, traditions and stereotypes may influence, for example, the choice
of educational paths and, consequently, professional careers that girls
and women make.
- While 55% of university students are women, they are a
minority in fields like mathematics, computing and engineering.
- Only 8.4 in 1.000 women aged 20-29 are graduates in
mathematics, science and technology compared to 17.6 men.
- Consequently, there are fewer women working in
scientific and technical jobs. In many cases this results in women working
in lower valued and lower paid sectors of the economy.
- Because of these traditions and stereotypes, women are
expected to reduce their working hours or exit the labour market to carry
out child or elder care.
Balancing work and
private life
- Women experience greater difficulties than men when it
comes to balancing work and private life.
- Family and care responsibilities are still not equally
shared. The task of looking after dependent family members is largely
borne by women. Far more women than men choose to take parental leave.
This fact, together with the lack of facilities for child care and elder
care, means that women are often forced to exit the labour market: the
employment rate for women with dependent children is only 62.4% compared
with 91.4% for men with dependent children.
- Although part-time work may be a personal choice, women
have greater recourse to part-time work in order to combine work and
family responsibilities. There is evidence of pay gap when looked at from
the differences in hourly earnings of part-time and full-time workers.
Across Europe over one-third of women work part-time, compared to only 8%
of men. More than three-quarters of the total of part-time workers are
women.
- Consequently, women have more career interruptions or
work shorter hours than men. This can impact negatively on their career
development and promotion prospects. It also means less financially
rewarding careers.
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