Equal pay

Gender discrimination? Women are still earning less than men. However, the pay gap between the sexes is closing. In what is set to be the biggest civil rights case against a private employer in US legal history, it is alleged that Wal-Mart has systematically paid women less than men and passed them over for promotion. The case involves up to 1.6 million women who have worked for Wal-Mart since 1998. Wal-Mart lawyers argue that statistical differences in pay and positions were due to differing job interests between men and women that exist in the general workforce, and which therefore cannot be blamed on the company.

Female employees today earn an average of 77% of what their male co-workers do, up from 59% 40 years ago, according to the US census. While many women have made progress in professions such as law and medicine, discrimination continues across much of the economy.

Overall, just 15% of women work in jobs typically held by men, such as engineers, stockbrokers and judges. Fewer than 8% of men hold female-dominated jobs such as nurses or sales clerks. Male accountants in the US earn $1,041 on average per week, while female accountants take home around $756. Regarding the ‘glass ceiling’, according to a new study by Catalyst, a women’s research organisation, 55% of women and 57% of men actually want to occupy the most senior role within an organisation.

The gap between men and women’s pay in the UK is wider than official figures show, according to research by PayFinder.com, which compares salaries. It showed the average pay gap at 24%, wider than the official figure of 19%. The website states it is ‘incredible’ that the gender pay gap still exists in modern times.