International Equal Pay Day

Closing the gender pay gap requires a set of measures that push for decent work for all people. This includes measures that promote the formalization of the informal economy , bringing informal workers under the umbrella of legal and effective protection and empowering them to better defend their interests. Equal pay expert King says that, “One of the most effective and quickest ways to narrow gender pay gaps is through minimum living wages (or wage floors) and universal social protection. ” Because women are overrepresented in low paid work , minimum living wages and social protections would benefit them more dramatically. King also states that widespread adoption of proactive pay equity laws , which require employers to regularly examine compensation practices, assess gender pay gaps, and take action to eliminate them, would help bridge the gap. Transparency within companies in criteria and decisions regarding pay can also help prevent gender bias. Ensuring workers’ right t...

Unequal pay is a stubborn and universal problem. In spite of significant progress in women’s education and higher female labour market participation rates in many countries, closing the gender pay gap has been too slow. At this pace , it will take 257 years to achieve economic gender parity . Women workers’ average pay is generally lower than men’s in all countries and for all levels of education , and age groups. Women in male-dominated industries may earn more than those in female-dominated industries, but the gender pay gap persists across all sectors. While gender pay gap estimates can vary substantially across regions and even within countries, higher income countries tend to have lower levels of wage inequality compared to low and middle-income countries. However, estimates of the gender pay gap understate the real extent of the issue, particularly in developing countries, because of a lack of information about informal economies , which are disproportionately made up...