Gender pay gap narrowing in India, widening in UK

The gap between men's and women's pay in India has narrowed, although narrowly, over the past one year, even as the gender pay gap in Britain has once again started increasing, according to a report published by the World Economic Forum.

India, with an overall score of 0.5936 points, is up three places at 111 against last year's 114, whereas the UK, with a score of 0.7366, now ranks 13 in gender equality against 11 last year.

The gap between men's and women's pay in Britain has once again started to increase, according to data released by the UK government's Office for National Statistics.

The gender pay gap increased marginally to 17.1 per cent, from 17 per cent a year ago, with men, on an average, earning £15.54 an hour compared to £12.88 earned by women, official data showed.

Pay disparities in the private sector were even larger, at 21.7 per cent, on account of a number of private firms being unwilling to undertake checks or audits of their pay patterns to ensure they were fair, the government report cited a BBC report as saying.

The report, quoting Brendan Barber, general secretary of The Trades Union Congress (TUC), as saying that the link between fair pay and checking pay systems is clear, and that the case for mandatory pay audits is ''stronger than ever.'' 

Data showed a typical man's gross weekly pay is at £631, against £485 for a woman. Moreover, men worked more overtime, and earned higher commissions and bonuses.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission says that based on the latest data, an average woman working full time would lose around £369,000 over her working life.

The UK now trails Latvia and Sri Lanka in gender equality. A study by the World Economic Forum revealed that the UK was down two places to the thirteenth position in terms of gender equality over the past year, having been overtaken by Latvia and Sri Lanka.

Since the rankings started three years ago, the UK has tumbled five places. The rankings show how equal the sexes are in terms of education, health, pay and political power. Last year, the UK ranked eleventh in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, while in 2006 it ranked ninth.

The World Economic Forum said that globally women now have almost the same access to health care and education as men, but lag in terms of their access to top corporate jobs and government posts.

Norway leads the world in closing the gender gap between men and women, according to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2008. Three other Nordic countries – Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4) – also top the Report's Gender Gap Index. Previously higher ranking countries such as Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the Index but stayed in the top 20, while Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France (15) made significant gains. Featuring a total of 130 countries, this year's report provides an insight into the gaps between women and men in over 92 per cent of the world's population.

Last year, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland topped the rankings in the Global Gender Gap Report 2007. All countries in the top 20 made progress relative to their scores last year – some more so than others. Latvia (13) and Lithuania (14) made the biggest advances among the top 20, gaining six and seven places respectively, driven by smaller gender gaps in labour force participation and wages. The report covers a total of 128 countries, representing over 90 per cent of the world's population.

The Report examines four critical areas of inequality between men and women:

1. Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment;
2. Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level education;
3. Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures; and
4. Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio.

Norway scored the highest in the rankings at 0.8239, taking the top spot from Finland. The UK is placed thirteenth, scoring 0.7366, a shade better than Switzerland and France, but trailing Sri Lanka. The US is ranked twenty seventh, higher than its neighbour Canada for the first time.

The rankings point out that Muslim countries had some of the lowest equality ratings, with Saudi Arabia brining in the tail end of the rankings on account of the strict interpretation of Islamic law that makes it illegal for women to be even seen in the same company as a man who is not a close relative.  Yemen is at the absolute bottom of the list, with Chad ranking just below Saudi Arabia.

The Fawcett Society has now called on the UK government to include mandatory pay auditing in the equalities bill, which is scheduled to be introduced during the coming month's Queen's speech. The UK's minister for women and equality, Harriet Harman, has announced a requirement for all public sector bodies to publish their gender pay gaps. Data shows that the gap for the Treasury is 26 per cent, though women in the Government Equalities Office are paid four per cent more than men.