Happy Equal Pay Day! If you are a woman and you are employed, then it’s possible that from today you are technically working for free.
This year Equal Pay Day has fallen on Monday 9th November. The date is selected by the Fawcett Society, who use official statistics on hourly pay for full-time workers to work out the date, you can find out how they calculate this here. This year it has fallen five days later than in 2014. This doesn’t seem like great progression to me.
One of David Cameron’s pledges – which usually go well – is to end the gender pay gap in a generation. However according to the TUC this year among Britain’s top earners the pay divide between the genders is almost 55%. Which means at this rate it will take more than a generation to close the gap.
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “These figures show that the glass ceiling is barely cracked, let alone broken. It is shocking the UK still has such large gender pay differences at the top of the labour market after more than four decades of equal pay and sex discrimination legislation. We need pay transparency, equal pay audits, and a requirement on companies to tackle gender inequality – or face fines.”
The Fawcett Society’s Chief Executive, Sam Smethers said: “There has never been a better opportunity to close the pay gap for good. Progress has stalled in recent years but with real commitment for government and employers, together with action from women and men at work, we could speed up progress towards the day when we can consign it to history…
“The message to women and men at work is – it’s OK to talk about pay. How can we achieve pay equality if we don’t even know what our colleagues earn? It is time to have the conversation and ask your employer if they are ready for the new pay gap reporting requirements.”
If you struggle with confidence in the workplace when it comes to subjects such as pay rises then you might like to find out about our Stand Up to Stand Out workshops and our Accidental Conference which is focusing on women and media.
