Are organizations really doing what it takes to reduce the gender pay gap?
The gender pay gap is one issue that has plagued the entire world, without a single exception. Even the most gender-neutral country in the world has a considerable pay gap despite an equal pay act that dates back to 1961. In Iceland, women earn 14% to 20% less than their male counterparts — and this gap is the lowest in the world.
On the other side, countries like Yemen, Syria and Saudi Arabia are the worst stricken, with women earning as little as 55% of what men earn for comparable work. This widespread phenomenon has many underlying factors. Women have traditionally taken up low paying jobs such as nursing, teaching, and housekeeping. Many lucrative industries such as finance and construction are inherently aggressive and reward masculine qualities. Then there is also the fact that traditionally, a woman’s role was that of a homemaker, so we’re still in the process of shifting women from carrying out unpaid labor to integrating into the paid workforce. But there is one factor, in particular, that is seldom mentioned, but is crucial to this issue.
The Motherhood Penalty
Mothers in the workforce experience additional disadvantage compared to women who are not mothers, including a per-child wage penalty. Studies such as this suggest mothers are less productive than their childless counterparts only make it worse for mothers in the workforce. Arguably, there are many more studies that prove this to be untrue, and in fact, quite the opposite. Evidently, there’s plenty of data and research to help us understand why the wage gap exists. The real question now is — are organizations doing what it takes to reduce the wage gap, and is it enough?
It is imperative that we look at the role of fathers to get an understanding of the root cause and, hopefully, decipher effective solutions. At the core of the ‘motherhood penalty’ is an unequal share of household responsibilities borne by women. Women spend 60% more time doing unpaid work than men, such as raising children, doing household chores etc. If organizations really want to be vigilant about reducing gender inequality, they should push fathers to actively take responsibility in household chores and childcare. While setting aside quotas for women in various roles helps, the problem will only be half-tackled if men do not take up domestic responsibility. Women will not be able to compete despite a level playing field at work if they have to go back to an uneven one at home.
One way organizations can do so is by introducing take-it or lose-it paternal leaves, and be genuinely supportive of it. An interesting study conducted by sociologist Kristine Warhuus Smeby highlights the importance of paternity leaves for fathers to build moral and social connections with their children and play an active role as caregivers. Organizations must be as flexible and welcoming to ‘father duty calls’ as they are to ‘mother duty calls’.
Another issue that prevents mothers from being competitive is lack of affordable, accessible, quality daycare. To give an idea of the magnitude of the problem, About 44% of Canadian non-school-aged children live in “childcare deserts” — areas where at least three children would be in potential competition for each licensed day-care space, according to a 2018 report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Companies must thus invest in childcare facilities and/or enable private daycare partnerships.
As an ambitious young woman entering a competitive job market, I hope organizations enable both women and men to pursue their careers without inadvertently asking for a trade-off of parenthood in return.
