Gender pay is much wider in global terms

The pay gap between men and women worldwide is much higher than the figure taken from official government figures, according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

Its recent report, Gender (in)equality in the labour market, puts the global gender pay gap at 22.4%, considerably higher than the 16.5% culled from official figures in a previous ITUC report. The new figure is based on a sample of 300,000 individual self-reported surveys completed on the internet during 2007-08 and covering 20 countries.

The ITUC says that in most countries the gap widens with age.

And it goes on to say that contrary to common belief, “a higher level of education seems to widen the gap.” This may be due to workplace discrimination, occupational segregation, or a higher proportion of women than men being employed in (often lower paid) part-time work or below their education level, possibly through the need to combine work with caring responsibilities. It adds that another explanation could be a general widening of the pay distribution at the top end.

The study backs up previous studies that belonging to a trade union leads to better pay for both men and women, as well as influencing pay equality by giving women better pay relative to their male colleagues. This is particularly the case where there is a union rep in the workplace, and where there are collective agreements.

The report can be downloaded from: www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/GAP-09_EN.pdf