Recent research into compliance with the Scottish specific equality duties on reporting gender pay gaps found that out of the 58 public bodies
reporting gender pay gaps of over +or- 5%, just 4 offered a coherent plan for
closing the pay gaps.
The vast bulk [93%] of
bodies in Scotland offered nothing in their reports which suggested they had any clear or coherent plan for reducing those gender pay gaps, all of which are
in excess of +or-5% and some even reaching 30%.
One might conclude from this that
the specific duty to publish gender pay data was not explicit enough in
requiring bodies to act on what an analysis of the gap told them, with a view
to closing the gaps. Or one could conclude that it was deliberate and wilful inaction on the part of 58 public bodies and that they will go on doing nothing to close the gaps until government tells them otherwise.
The solution is simple. Tighten up any loopholes uncovered by research such as this and revise the regulations so that even numpties in public bodies can understand.
Another common feature in the gender pay gap reports which have been published is the tendency to conclude that where a grade by grade analysis shows no major [i.e. +or-5%] gaps in the average pay of women and men on those grades, and when the pay gap for the whole workforce comes in at more than 5%, then that is not a problem because, some reports suggest, women choose to work part-time and/or women tend to be in the lower paid grades, or even choose to take the low paid jobs.
The understanding by the public sector of occupational segregation, the roots this has in structural and institutional gender discrimination, and the consequences for the pay packets of women workers, is seriously compromised by the inability of the public sector to recognise discrimination in all its forms.
If it is not that the intellectual capacity of public sector professionals has been compromised, then the only other reasonable option is that there exists in Scotland a stubborn, neanderthal cohort of senior professionals - including women - who believe that gender pay inequality is just not an issue.
Another common feature in the gender pay gap reports which have been published is the tendency to conclude that where a grade by grade analysis shows no major [i.e. +or-5%] gaps in the average pay of women and men on those grades, and when the pay gap for the whole workforce comes in at more than 5%, then that is not a problem because, some reports suggest, women choose to work part-time and/or women tend to be in the lower paid grades, or even choose to take the low paid jobs.
The understanding by the public sector of occupational segregation, the roots this has in structural and institutional gender discrimination, and the consequences for the pay packets of women workers, is seriously compromised by the inability of the public sector to recognise discrimination in all its forms.
If it is not that the intellectual capacity of public sector professionals has been compromised, then the only other reasonable option is that there exists in Scotland a stubborn, neanderthal cohort of senior professionals - including women - who believe that gender pay inequality is just not an issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment