ILO reports slow progress on equal pay

Equal pay for women will not be achieved until 2086 at the current rate of progress, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The report, published on 8 March to coincide with International Women’s Day, notes that globally women now earn only 77% of what men earn, with the gap widening for higher-paying roles. This is despite well-established equal pay legislation in many countries.

The labor force participation rate for women and men now stands at 50% and 77% respectively, a slightly narrower gap compared to 1995, when the equivalent figures were 52% and 80%. The lower participation rates for both genders is attributed to the effects of the financial crisis in 2008.

The ILO notes more positive developments in the political arena, with more female heads of state among its member countries compared to 20 years ago (8% up from 3%), and more female MPs (22%, more than double the 1995 figure).

A separate ILO study draws attention to the additional pay gap faced by women with children. It discusses a range of policy options to address the problem, including childcare, parental leave, and flexible working hours.

Solomon Polachek has written about the gender pay gap for IZA World of Labor. He argues that equal pay legislation has had little effect, and that "effective policies to speed up wage convergence should involve government actions to stimulate a further rise in women’s lifetime work, such as eradicating taxes that decrease wives’ incentives to work."

Read more at The Guardian.

Related articles:
Equal pay legislation and the gender wage gap, by Solomon W. Polachek
Trade liberalization and gender inequality, by Janneke Pieters