The gender gap in the world of work30 Settembre 2021The gender gap in the world of work

The disparity between genders in the world of work is one of the more heated debates in recent years. All of the analyses, even the more recent numbers that compare men and women in the world of work, continue to sketch a picture that shows the latter are still in an unequal condition in terms of both salary and position.

In Europe, the gender employment gap stood at 11.7% in 2019, with 67.3% of women employed compared to 79% of men. The pay gap, for the same hours of work, however, stood at 14.1% and has changed only minimally over the last decade. This means that women’s hourly earnings are less than that of their male counterparts. Furthermore, women earned a total of 39.6% less than men in 2014. One of the reasons for this is that on average, in terms of hours, women work less than men: while just 8% of men in 2019 worked part-time, almost a third of women (30.7%) are not able to have a full-time contract.

According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, there are many reasons why this happens:

Sectoral Segregation: about 30% of the gender pay gay is explained by the over-representation of women in relatively low-paying sectors, but no less important for the functioning of country, such as care services and educational positions. The percentage of male employees is much higher (more than 80%) in the best-paid sectors, like the sciences, technology, and engineering.
Work-Life Balance: women, due to historically long standing norms that are difficult to change, take on important unpaid tasks, such as housework and taking care of children or other family members, in a greater proportion than men. Male workers spend an average of 9 hours a week on unpaid activities like caring for children and family members or doing housework, while female workers spend closer to 22 hours per week on the same activities, that is, around 4 hours per day. On the labor market, this difference is reflected in the fact that 1 woman in 3 reduce their paid working hours, taking on more part-time work, while only 1 man in 10 does the same.
Hierarchical Position Influences Remuneration Levels: less than 10% of CEOs for major companies are women. The professional position with the largest difference in hourly wages in the EU was that of managers: wages were 23% lower for women than men, an element that also indicates a difference in bargaining capacity.

In general, in some cases, women earn less than men for work of equal value, despite the principle of equal pay for work of equal value being enshrined in European treaties (Article 157 TFEU) since 1957.

THE ITALIAN SITUATION

In Italy, the situation is slightly worse than the average. The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 reports that Italy has fallen again in the world ranking of countries that have implemented a wage parity (from 70th to 76th place). In fact, an Italian woman earns on average around €17,900 per year compared to the €31.600 earned by men, with respect to the many more hours of work, because she is paid proportionally less and does more unpaid work than a man (domestic work, childcare, etc.).

From an analysis conducted by Job Pricing, in 77% of cases men earn more than women in every sector. Italian women also study more (in 2018 more than half of women were graduates), but they study in disciplines whose job opportunities produce lower wages. Proof of this is that the wage gap is higher among graduates than non-graduates. Furthermore, girls would choose study programs (humanities more than STEM) that are less in line with the needs of the labor market and this ends up penalizing them. It should also be noted that the percentage of women who have greater access to university education has only recently increased exponentially. This data is essential to explain that in the future their hierarchical position could also improve as a result, given that their career has yet to fully unfold.

The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Article 157) clearly establishes the terms of gender equality in the workplace. Despite this, the Consumer Movement (Movimento Consumatori) has recently relaunched the issue by analyzing it from another perspective that is linked to the classification of the worker and the conditions that are agreed to during the negotiation phase. According to the Movement, in fact, the discrepancies in terms of remuneration derive from the compromises that women make in contractual negotiations, where a variable remuneration is envisaged, in order to allow themselves to reconcile work needs with family ones.

The lower bargaining capacity of women with the employer, due to the abovementioned requirements of lower working hours with a lower wage, contributes 30% to the wage gap between the two genders. Another reason for discrimination is given by the fact that companies believe women, regardless of whether or not they have children in their life, may be subject to future absences, even for long periods, from the workplace due to pregnancies or a responsibility to care for their family. Sometimes, in the case of contractual equality, there may still be differences in treatment regarding incentives relating to benefits, welfare and bonuses.

An analysis of this type explains discrimination as the daughter of a patriarchal, if not male, culture that is rooted in time. However, a further study must also be done, in order to avoid using culture as the only scapegoat. If it is true that the consequence of this aspect is that there are fewer women with education, professional qualifications and effective opportunities to focus on their careers, companies will feel somehow legitimized to continue, in not only for purely organizational reasons, with an orientation that leads them to shift the responsibility onto women who are overburdened by other commitments, family ones. This leads to an inevitable gender imbalance in which companies do not want to depend on women as a result. It becomes easy to justify one’s choices in this way, discharging the responsibility of a gender gap which has several culprits that lay outside of companies.

In fact, the slow Italian cultural growth surrounding these issues is combined with a poor ability of companies to understand how gender equality, in addition to being a delicate ethical issue, is a matter of mere performance. In fact, there is no awareness that an organization that contains more women does not affect its growth.

Over the years, studies and analyses have multiplied that show how companies that guarantee greater female participation in the board and in the strategic unit perform better. In 2018, McKinsey highlighted a positive correlation between the enhancement of gender differences, profitability and value creation: the greater the presence of women at the highest company levels, the greater the performance as compared to competitors. The reasons for this correlation have been identified in the fact that, thanks to the union of intentions between men and women, these companies are more capable of attracting and retaining talented employees, improving customer care and loyalty management, being more innovative, achieving high levels of staff satisfaction, making effective decisions, guaranteeing adequate levels of delegation and considerably reducing risk.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

From a forward-looking point of view, if it is true that female employment has recently grown in Italy, the Job Pricing report underlines how the wage gap between men and women in work is likely to increase further due to the continuous digitalization which the market is subject to. In the sense that the digital transformation will always require more specific skills and will affect, above all, occupations that have traditionally been filled by female workers: if women are less present in university faculties that deliver STEM skills—which offer more outlets in terms of employment—especially in the light of this analysis, the gap will continue to grow. The struggle for growth and awareness of the gender gap thus runs the risk of suffering from a setback.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) clearly states that the political and economic participation of women in Italy is at an entirely insufficient level: as reported by the Corriere della Sera, the WEF indicates that the political disparity will be closed in 95 years, while the wage gap will not be for 257 years. With the digital revolution, between 140 and 160 million women around the world will find themselves having to change jobs or have to improve their skills within 10 years. Change also comes through politics: an essential condition, in fact, is that the right tools are granted worldwide to allow women to have the same opportunities as men through family support measures. In this way, the concrete possibilities of emerging in the labor market would increase considerably. Otherwise, the digital transition could become a cause that widens gender imbalances, leaving highly specialized and technical jobs all in the hands of men and further isolating women, putting them in a condition of permanent disadvantage.

cover image credit: Smithsonian (Accession number: 1976-103-82)

Testo Originale: Alessio Patti / Traduzione: Peter Briggs