GENDER
PAY GAP – ECONOMY
News:
Closing the gender pay
gap in the workforce
What's
in the news?
●
Despite notable progress in closing the
gender pay gap over time in India, the gap remains high by international
standards.
●
Asymmetries still abound in the country’s labour
market stopping women empowerment.
Gender
Pay Gap:
●
The gender pay gap or gender wage gap
measures the difference between the average earnings of women and men in the
workforce.
●
Women are generally found to be paid less
than men.
Status
in India:
●
The gender pay gap in India is among the
widest in the world.
●
Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked India at 135 out of 146 countries in
its Global Gender Gap (GGG) Index for 2022.
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According to the estimates of the World
Inequality Report 2022, in India, men earn 82 percent of the labour income
whereas women earn 18 percent of it.
Causes
for Gender Pay Gap in India:
1.
Low paid jobs:
●
Women are often concentrated in low-paying
jobs and so-called “women jobs such as domestic work, nurses, agriculture and
textiles, while men dominate high-paying sectors like engineering, finance and technology.
2.
Lower level of education:
●
Women in India have lower levels of
education and fewer opportunities to develop skills compared to men, which
limits their job prospects and earnings potential.
3.
Discrimination:
●
In India, women face discrimination in the
workplace, including lower pay for the same job, fewer opportunities for
promotion, and less access to training and development programs.
4.
Informal sectors:
●
Many women in India work in the informal
sector, which lacks legal protections, benefits and job security, and often
pays lower wages.
5.
Lower skills:
●
Women labourers are assumed to have low
skill levels on entry, a lack of access to on the job training and
responsibilities of family which leads to them gaining lesser opportunities of
employment and being paid less on the job.
6.
Traditional gender roles:
●
Traditional gender roles and societal
expectations often limit women’s participation in the workforce and reinforce
gender stereotypes that perpetuate the wage gap.
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Men forbidding women to work as their
economic status grows is also a major reason for restricting women to work
outside their homes.
7.
Less profess experience:
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Women tend to have less professional
experience than men due to unpaid obligations such as childcare, which leads to
a career gap.
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According to a report by McKinsey, just
14% of senior-level positions in India are held by women.
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This lack of representation at the top
levels of organizations leads to a lack of role models for women and a lack of
policies and practices that support gender equality.
8.
Covid-19 Impact:
●
While it is difficult to tell exactly what
the economic damage from the global covid-19 pandemic has been, it is clear
that its impact has been uneven, with women being among the worst affected in
terms of their income security.
●
Many women reverted to full-time care of
children and the elderly during the pandemic, foregoing their livelihoods to do
so.
9.
Household:
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Early marriage, responsibilities of the
household at early age, spending more times on domestic chores, etc.
10.
Healthcare:
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Malnutrition, anemia, maternity, child
care, looking after health of the elderly family members etc.
Steps
taken by India:
1.
Minimum Wages Act in 1948:
●
It aimed at statutory fixation of minimum
wages that must be paid to skilled and unskilled labours. Payment of wages
below the minimum wage rate amounts to forced labour.
2.
Equal Remuneration Act in 1976:
●
It provides for the payment of equal
remuneration to men and women workers for the prevention of discrimination. It
helps in bridging the gap between unequal remuneration faced by the women of
our country.
3.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005:
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MGNREGA contributed to the rapid rise in
overall rural and agricultural wages in the country.
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It benefited rural women workers and
helped reduce the gender pay gap, both directly and indirectly.
○
Directly, by raising the pay levels of
women workers and indirectly to women involved in agricultural occupations
through higher earnings.
4.
Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017:
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It has increased the duration of paid
maternity leave available for women employees to 26 weeks from 12 weeks for all
women working in establishments employing 10 or more workers.
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This is expected to reduce the motherhood
pay gap among mothers in the median and high end wage earners working in the
formal economy also it will help in women empowerment.
5.
Skill India Mission:
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To equip women with market-relevant skills
to bridge the learning to-livelihood gap and the gender pay gap.
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In 2019, India carried out comprehensive
reforms in both the legislation and enacted the Code on Wages.
While the gender pay gap
is slowly narrowing, acceleration and bold actions to prevent the widening of gender
pay gap is the need of the hour. Closing the gender pay gap is key to
achieving social justice for working women, as well as economic growth for
the nation as a whole.