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Scandal of women’s pay gap exposed
(27/10/04) As evidence mounts that women still lag far behind their male counterparts in the workforce 34 years after the Equal Pay Act, UNISON, the UK’s largest union, says the only way forward is government action.
Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt this week denounced the ‘career sexism’ she said still prevails, when she spoke to the gender and work summit organised by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).
Too many jobs have a “macho male image” that puts girls off at a young age, she said. Only 9% of executive and non-executive directors of the country’s top 100 firms are women, while construction has a 99% male workforce. engineering (92% male) or plumbing (nationally there are 3,100 boys on plumbing apprenticeships –and 22 girls).
These government figures are balanced by bright spots, such as the fact there are now more female than male medical students (61% to 39%) and more female than male trainee solicitors (63% to 37%).
But too many women, said the EOC, are trapped in low paying jobs, and its latest figures showed a 19.5% gender pay gap between women.
Even women graduates are still earning less than 15% of men with the same qualification five years after graduating.
UNISON, the UK’s largest union, said yesterday that steps must be taken to improve the situation.
“Initiatives designed to encourage women to follow previously male-oriented careers (and vice versa) are to be welcomed as this broadens choice and will help to break down barriers,” said the union’s national women’s officer Christine Durance.
“There also needs to be work on how cultural barriers on gender can be broken down at even earlier stages. Children make their subject choices in school, and this leads to gender segregation in career choice.
“Any initiative which improves numbers and quality of equal pay reviews is good news”, she added.
“The TUC Equal Pay Project has given a boost to union's attempts to ensure equality proofed pay systems in both the private and public sector. Our signal to government, however, is that the public sector already knows that equal pay for women is vital but that improved investment is essential if we are to deliver that equal pay.”
The EOC’s latest research on the gender pay gap is at
www.eoc.org.uk/cseng/news/25_oct_gender_summit.asp
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