- Like work
- Work rated as equivalent
- Work of equal value
When is it OK for men to receive more pay than women?
- seniority
- merit
- qualifications
- length of employment
- productivity
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 - this act made it unlawful to discriminate against an employee at work whether it being direct or indirect on the grounds of marital status or sex.
WHERE DO I GO IF I HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE TWO LEGISLATIONS?
You can take your case to an Industrial Tribunal with the assistance of your Trade Union representative (optional) or to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). One of the main achievements of the EOC was to set up the Codes of Practice. Although it is not legally required for a business to abide by the practices it gives them guidelines to follow to avoid an employee claiming discrimination.
IS THE LEGISLATION ADEQUATE?
I feel that the legislations are not adequate in protecting the interests of women workers. I feel this because the pay gap is not closing. By looking at the graph below you can see that females are earning less than males. By looking at figure 1 you can see that there is a gap between full time and part time employment between males and females more so for full time employment where more discrimination takes place.
Figure 2 clearly shows that there is still a gap in regards to average weekly and hourly earnings.
Figure 2
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We also found that 180,000 female part time workers are paid below the minimum wage compared to males of 50,000 who are paid below the minimum wage.
At present the wage gap between male and females in full time employment is 18%, for part time work the gap is of a greater proportion. Women involved in part-time work are paid on average 25% less than their male colleagues. The fact that the gap is bigger for full time employment does not surprise me. As researching this topic I have found as mentioned previously that there is a higher proportion of females who work on a part time basis as they have childcare facilities to accommodate.
A question you may be asking yourself is why the payment gap is still there, the factor that I feel plays the strongest contribution is the gender differentials in occupation. Skilled work such as construction and solicitors are almost exclusive to males where as occupations that are almost exclusive o females such as hairdressing and retail pay relatively low. For primary schools 85% of teachers re females, the remaining 15% are males most of which have the role of Head teacher. These 85% of female teachers are paid on avers £450 per week, compared to their males counterparts of £503 per week.
Figure 3 illustrates the pay in other occupations
Figure 3
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From other sources of information I found that for every £1 a man earns a women earns 82p
“18 Oct 2002 UK – figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the gap in pay between men and women has started to open up again marginally with male earnings increasing at 4.8% in the year to April 2002 and equivalent female earnings growing at 4.5%. As a result female earnings only stand at 81.2% of male earnings. By contrast the pay of top executives appears to be storming ahead of average earnings with the top executives of FTSE 100 companies getting an average salary increase of 9.7% (according to a survey from Incomes Data Services). At the other end of the pay scale, part-time workers have also found their pay going up by considerably more than average earnings with a 7.3% average increase in hourly earnings.
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WHAT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED?
The rise of the national minimum wage to £4.20 in October 2002 gave over one million women an immediate pay rise. This helped to reduce the gender pay gap to its lowest ever level.
The National Childcare Strategy has improved the availability and accessibility of childcare. More women are given the opportunity to return to work, the Government is on target to deliver childcare places for 1.6m children by March 2004.
The introduction of a questionnaire procedure for use in equal pay cases included in the recent Employment Bill will make it easier for women to decide if they are suffering discrimination before taking up a formal equal pay case. This will help employers and employees alike, ensuring the facts are established quickly. This step could also lead to internal settlement or resolution in some cases without going to tribunal.
A reward scheme is being introduced to reward employers who act on their pay reviews
There are also asking for naming and shaming cpmanies
SHOULD THE LAW BE CHANGED?
The law should be changed, the legislation available today is not adequate.
Unless there is a statutory requirement for employers to undertake pay reviews, unequal pay for women will continue to be a feature of the labour market.
If the company were threatened to have their pay systems available to the public (name and shame) this may detour them as they do not want to have a reputations of discrimination. The government need to make it easier for women and men to take up equal pay claims by simplifying and speeding up existing tribunal procedures. It has been known for a case to take up to two years for a case to be settled. The law need to devise a plan where the consequences of discrimination in the workplace are much more serious.
Useful websites
18 Oct 2002 UK - Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the gap in pay between men and women has started to open up again marginally with male earnings increasing at 4.8% in the year to April 2002 and equivalent female earnings growing at 4.5%. As a result female earnings only stand at 81.2% of male earnings. By contrast the pay of top executives appears to be storming ahead of average earnings with the top executives of FTSE 100 companies getting an average salary increase of 9.7% (according to a survey from Incomes Data Services). At the other end of the pay scale, part-time workers have also found their pay going up by considerably more than average earnings with a 7.3% average increase in hourly earnings.
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