International Equal Pay Day 2021: What Can You Do To Help?
International Equal Pay Day was established by the UN General Assembly (UNGA), in response to deep concern over slow progress in women’s economic empowerment, the undervaluing of work traditionally held by women, and the difficulties in tackling pay inequality.
Globally, despite decades of activism, and dozens of laws on equal pay, women still earn less than 80 cents for every dollar men do. For women with children, women of colour, women refugees and migrants, and women with disabilities, that figure is even lower.
In establishing International Equal Pay Day, held on the 18th of September every year, the UNGA urged action to reach the goal of equal pay for work of equal value for all, and encouraged all stakeholders to continue to support the goal of equal pay for work of equal value.
You can do your part by supporting the work of organisations like UN Women and Amnesty International, as well as supporting organisations who sponsor the education of girls – here’s a list to get you started.
At Accela, we support the Nepal Initiative, which is working to educate boys and girls in underprivileged and vulnerable communities, and work with NINEby9, a non-profit organisation seeking gender parity in Asia.
If you are fortunate enough to live in a country that strives for pay equity, you can join a Lean In Circle and raise your voice when you see a gender pay discrepancy, or a bias for hiring men in senior roles within your own organisation.
Accela Communications is currently helping spread the word about the incredible organisation NINEby9, which is setting out nine actionable points to achieve gender parity across the Asia Pacific within nine years.
The results of NINEby9’s latest research, in partnership with Kadence International, will be released in the coming months, and will identify trends and gaps in gender equality across organisations in Asia, and suggest actionable changes we can all help hold organisations accountable to.
The fact that there is still a pay gap in advanced economies like Singapore, where diversity and inclusion is a growing business function and governments and companies actively strive for pay equity, shows how much work needs to be done.
Figures in the Ministry of Manpower’s Adjusted Gender Pay Gap 2020 report showed Singapore’s gender pay gap hovering at 6%, which is a better result than other advanced economies, like the USA (8%), Canada (7.7% - 8.3%) and China (18.3%). These figures were drawn from data collected in 2018.
The report attributed this 6% discrepancy to a higher concentration of women in roles that tend to command lower salaries, such as teaching and nursing, as well as a higher number of women working part-time in order to take on additional caregiving responsibilities.
NINEby9 acknowledges the societal pressure and workplace challenges facing women in Singapore, and that the pandemic has been a catalyst for both raising awareness (as mothers juggle working-from-home and homeschooling) and demanding change (many employers have had to pivot to ensure any mothers in the organisations who are juggling care responsibilities are adequately supported).
The latest Women in the Workplace study by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company found that in America, for every 100 entry-level men promoted to manager-level roles, only 72 women are promoted, and this is despite the fact that women and men ask for promotions at similar rates.
“This “broken rung” leads to an ever-widening gap: although women make up almost half of the entry-level workforce, they hold only about a third of manager-level roles and less than a quarter of C-suite positions,” LeanIn says.
Director of Credit Digital Transformation at Standard Chartered Bank and D&I advocate, Ishani Banerjee, covers this in more detail with her recent piece on the Diversely blog.
She notes that at her company, there are more women than men in junior roles (~60:40), but that it falls significantly in the highest bracket (~25:75) (these figures are for Singapore and the UK).
“What we’ve observed is that women tend to have to fight much harder for a promotion or pay rise compared to male counterparts,” Banerjee writes.
“This is recognised and some of the main researched reasons for this include:
Performance Bias: Underestimating women’s abilities and overestimating men’s abilities, leading to women having to prove themselves over and over again
Traditional Views On Leadership: Women being seen as too feminine, and therefore not capable, or too masculine, and not likeable, leading to them ‘walking a tightrope’ and missing out on top jobs.
The Motherhood Penalty: Mothers being perceived as less committed to their jobs.
Women Holding Themselves Back or Self-Sacrificing: Not applying for roles they’re more than qualified for, not asking for promotions/ a raise. A recent example in the pandemic is female startup CEOs cutting their pay by more than 30%, while their male counterparts gave themselves a rise.”
Here at Accela Talent, we strongly agree with Banerjee’s list. We have also found that women who opt to take a longer period of maternity leave, or who move to Singapore from abroad can find themselves returning to the workforce at a lower salary level than those who did not take a break from their career. A recruitment consultant can help you understand your market value, repackage your CV and pitch you for roles in companies they have a direct relationship with.
Diversely can also help companies identify gender discrepancies in the workplace with its free diversity score tool, which helps identify under-represented groups in the workforce. Diversely’s free downloadable guide gives some everyday tips to reduce gender bias in your workplace, and its insights report helps companies set diversity priorities and measure improvements.