Government guidance, published in January 2019, in response to the Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee’s recommendations, asserted that gender pay gap reporting could be “particularly burdensome for small and medium sized businesses and so the requirement should be restricted to large employers”. There was no stipulation or discussion of plans to extend gender pay gap reporting to organisations employing less than 250 staff but there was mention of the fact that the government does encourage small and medium sized businesses to review their gender pay gaps and that some had voluntarily published their data.
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Gumtree Jobs research highlights 25% gender pay gap in hospitality sector for low-income jobs 15 November 2019
The hospitality industry has been identified as the sector with the largest gender pay gap, with women earning an average of £12,322 per year compared to men, where the average was £15,459.
The issue isn’t confined to those working within hospitality, as there are also disparities between the pay of males and females working within fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and retail. Men earn 24% more pay than their female counterparts with average pay of £16,222 compared to £13,094. Females in teaching and education roles confirmed average salaries of £15,376 as opposed to males who commanded an average of £18,953, this equates to a difference of 23%.
The area in which the pay gap was the smallest was in computing and IT roles where men received an average of 6% more than women - £20,641 against £19,483.
The report, entitled ‘Hidden heroes: Discovering the unsung workforce driving the UK economy’ collected responses from employees in the UK earning below £30,000. There were 354,216 respondents and the report showed that there is a very real gender pay gap, particularly in low-income jobs. Additional findings show that 42% of female respondents were paid below £15,000 per year in comparison with 23% of men.
The Fawcett Society, a charity that wants to tackle the issue of outright pay discrimination, has confirmed that they are marking today as Equal Pay Day.
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UK’s global gender equality ranking slips 19 December 2019
Due to the fact that there is continued inequality in the workplace and a consistently recognised gender pay gap, the UK has been demoted from 15 th to 21 st place on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report.
The report ranks 153 countries in terms of their gender equality and looks at the variations in pay for men and women, equality in education and literacy and the political representation of and for women. The UK was placed ahead of the Unites States but fell behind Germany, New Zealand and Canada and also behind less developed countries, like Nicaragua and the Philippines. As a result of the UK’s lower ranking on this year’s list, employment experts have asserted that there needs to be more robust processes in place to combat discrimination in the workplace and to promote flexible working so that both men and women can position their working life against their home and family life. The UK did perform well in certain areas, but it was still reported that there were inconsistencies in the pay of women and their male counterparts. It was felt that there was poor political representation for women within the UK and this also attributed to the lower place it was awarded this year.
Sam Smethers, the chief executive of The Fawcett Society, a group who campaign for women’s rights and gender equality, commented:
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