Women bosses are a harassed lot. Not only do they have to put up with sexism from people working above and below them, they are even not compensated accordingly. A 2015 National Management Salary Survey compiled by the UK-based Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and by the firm XpertHR reveals that a female manager works 100 minutes every day for free, because of the pay gap between her and her male counterparts. This sums up to a woman doing unpaid work for 57 days a year. That’s a staggering number and staggering loss; we aren’t even counting overtime. And all this is only because of her gender.
The average pay for women managers of all ages and all professional roles is £30,612. On the other hand, a man in an equivalent job is paid £39,136. Further up the pay scale, the gap widens. At senior or director level, the average pay for men is £138,699, and for women £123,756.
Women at all levels also lose out on bonuses, with men receiving £4,898, almost twice the £2,531 average for women.
And before you think that it doesn’t concern us because this a UK-based survey, check out these facts from an earlier Indian survey. A 2013 survey by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) shows that in India the more educated a woman, the higher the salary discrimination she faces at work.
It may seem like one of those odd things which happen only in India, but Indian women with no formal education earn higher than their male counterparts. But higher up on the work juggernaut, the situation reverses.
Women with basic qualifications in regular jobs earn 10 per cent less than men on the same level. But for women with a Master’s degree, the wage gap widens as much as 40 per cent. This means that if a man in a managerial post earns Rs 10 lakhs per annum, a woman in the same post, doing the same job earns only Rs 4 lakhs per annum.
If this isn’t discrimination, then what else can it be termed as?
Most women, the study says, are categorized by employers as potential mothers, even if they are not married. So they are pre-disposed towards offering low salaries. In many cases, women take breaks in their careers or opt for part-time jobs when they are required to take care of their children. When these women return to the labour market for full-time jobs they are often offered lower wages than their male counterparts.
But the issue of equal pay is not something that we Indian women alone are facing. It’s the case with women everywhere. Even in the cut-throat world of Silicon Valley with some high powered women CEOs, the payscale is such that for every dollar paid to a male employee, female employees are paid only 83 cents.
Comedian and satirist John Oliver who brought up the issue in his show, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, mentioned that perhaps male bosses should invent ‘ladybucks’ to be paid to women instead of regular dollars. A ladybuck would be valued only at 83 cents unlike a regular dollar and women’s salaries can be reimbursed with ladybucks.
“They look like dollars, but are actually only worth 83 cents. Just perfect for keeping women happy with their paltry paychecks!” noted Oliver.
Oliver aptly sums up the gender-gap situation across the world in this segment when he says, “Paying people less for the same work is clearly wrong. Even monkeys know that.”
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