The Gender Pay and Opportunities Gap

The Equal Pay Act 1970 introduced the requirement for equal pay between men and women where they are employed on equal work. This has been followed by a number of other pieces of legislation requiring equal treatment regardless of gender.

Despite all of this legislation, there remains a significant difference in pay and opportunities for male and female employees. But are these differences due to discrimination or are they due to differences in personal choices? Even if the reasons for these differences are due to differences in personal choices between male and female employees, are these voluntary or enforced choices?

The gender pay gap still exists and, in 2010, the Government is seeking to introduce additional legislation to address this inequality. The 2009 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings(1) revealed a 25% difference in average full time earnings for male and female employees. A carer benchmarking survey in the Accountancy profession published in 2010(3) revealed that males earn 60% more than their female counterparts.

The pay gap is not, however, the full story. A survey for the Guardian Newspaper in August 2009(2) revealed that, while 90% of companies surveyed had an equality policy, only 3% of executive directors are female. This suggests that opportunities for female employees are less than for their male counterparts. The Bow Group produced a report(7) claiming that 36% of boys stay on at school to take GCE/A levels compared with 44% of girls. This difference questions why there are fewer women making it the highest levels of business.

There are claims that the gender pay gap is not the result of discrimination, but due to other factors such as qualifications, work experience, values and preferences. Shackleton states that “Employer discrimination is not a major factor: the size of the pay gap depends on a range of factors, many of which are probably beyond the influence of government as they depend on the values, preferences and choices of individual men and women.”(4). He goes on to say that “When attitudes and preferences, as well as objective characteristics such as work experience and qualifications, are brought into the picture, however, most of the pay gap can be explained without reference to discrimination”(5). The higher number of women that are part time employees may contribute to the apparent reduced opportunities available to them. In the 2009 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings(1), 89% of male employees worked full time compared to 59% of females.

Other research by the Fawcett Society “shows that whilst legislation has eradicated some of the most blatant forms of discrimination, it has not been entirely successful in changing hearts and minds. The widening pay gap, decline in women leaders, and resurgence in workplace ‘sex-object culture’ are all testament to the fact that equal opportunity policies and discrimination legislation alone are ill-equipped to close the gender equality gap”(6).

With a significant amount of legislation already in place, will additional legislation improve reduce the gender pay and opportunity gaps? Is it discrimination or other factors that is responsible for these differences? If it is the latter, is this due to voluntary personal choice, or is it the result of other factors?


(1) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/ashe1109.pdf
(2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/23/women-business-harriet-harman-equality
(3) a Career Benchmarking Study released by the ICAEW and recruiters Robert Half. http://www.financialdirector.co.uk/accountancyage/news/2258629/female-accountants-paid-less
http://www.roberthalf.co.uk/portal/site/rh-uk/menuitem.b0a52206b89cee97e7dfed10c3809fa0/?vgnextoid=8a43852d76d17210VgnVCM1000003c08f90aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0198ad657c762110VgnVCM1000000100007fRCRD
(4) J R Shackleton (p104) Should We Mind the Gap? http://www.iea.org.uk/files/upld-book442pdf?.pdf
(5) J R Shackleton (p12) http://www.iea.org.uk/files/upld-book442pdf?.pdf
(6) Just Below the Surface: gender stereotyping, the silent barrier to equality in the modern workplace? http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/Just%20Below%20the%20Surface.pdf
(7) Boys: A School Report by Chris Skidmore http://www.bowgroup.org/harriercollectionitems/BoysASchoolReport%5B1%5D.doc