Equal Pay Day: what does it mean?
Equal Pay Day was originated in the US by the National Committee on Pay
Equity (NCPE)1 in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap
between men's and women's wages.Because women earn less, on average, than
men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. This wage gap is even
greater for many women whose background intersects with gender
discrimination.
Since US Census statistics showing the latest wage figures were not available
until late August or September, NCPE leadership decided to select a Tuesday in
April as Equal Pay Day. (Tuesday was selected to represent how far into the
work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week.)2.
In 2011, Barak Obama, President of the United States of America proclaimed
April 12 in 2011 and April 17 in 2012, as National Equal Pay Day. In doing so, he
called upon all Americans to recognize the full value of women's skills and their
significant contributions to the labor force, to acknowledge the injustice of wage
discrimination, and join efforts to achieve equal pay.
In Australia
Equal Pay Day was initiated in Australia in 2008 by EOWA (a statutory authority
located within the portfolio of the Australian Commonwealth Department of
Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) to
administer the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999
(Commonwealth).
It is an annual event to highlight the serious issue of gender pay inequity.
The average 25 year old Australian male will earn approximately $2.4 million
over the next 40 years compared to $1.5 million for the average Australian
female3.
However, the average gender pay gap for full time workers is now 17.5 per cent
(in the quarter ending May 2012).
The average weekly ordinary time earnings of women working full time were
$1,193.50 per week, or $252.80 per week less than men, who earned an
average weekly wage of $1,446.30 per week.
1
http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html
The date also is selected to avoid religious holidays and other significant events.
3
http://www.eowa.gov.au/Pay_Equity/Equal_Pay_Day.asp
2
The figures show that there has been no material change in the gender pay gap
from a year ago (17.6 per cent in May 2011).
Over the period of 18 years, the pay gap has increased by 1.5 percentage
points.
To close this gap, women would have to work an extra 64 days to match
what men earn, which means Equal Pay Day in Australia in 2012 will
take place on 2nd September-Father’s Day.
Gap in state and territories
The gap is biggest in Western Australia (25.3 per cent actually down 2.9 per
cent from 2011), Queensland (20.9 per cent up 1.9 per cent) and Northern
Territory ( 20 per cent up 3.9 per cent). It was lowest in Tasmania (11.8 per
cent) and ACT (12.8 per cent).4 .
Gap in private and public sectors
The pay gap in the private sector is considerably higher than in the public
sector: 20.8 per cent compared with 13.2 per cent.
Gap by industry
In May 2012, the financial and insurance sector had the highest gender pay gap
(32.7 per cent), followed by the health care and social assistance sector (31.3
per cent), professional scientific and technical services sector (27.1 per cent)
and the rental, hiring and real estate services sector (24.8 per cent).
Industries with the lowest gender pay gap were the public administration and
safety (8.1 per cent), retail trade (8.5 per cent), and accommodation and food
services (8.5per cent) sectors.
Gap by occupation
The highest pay gap between men and women working full time is for sales
workers (27.6 per cent) and community and personal service worker occupations
(26.5 per cent). The occupations with the lowest pay gap are managers (20.5
per cent) and professionals (21.1 per cent).
For part time workers, the overall gender pay gap stood at -9.0 per cent
showing, on average, women were being paid more than men when employed
part time. This occurred across four occupations: clerical and administrative
workers (-13.3 per cent), labourers (-5.9 per cent), community and service
workers (-4.1 per cent) and sales workers (-4.0 per cent).
The largest pay gaps between men and women in part time employment were in
the occupations of technicians and trades workers (20.7 per cent), professionals
(12.0 per cent), and managers (8.0 per cent)
4
http://www.eowa.gov.au/Information_Centres/Resource_Centre/Statistics/2012-08-Gap
17_Gender_Pay_Gap_factsheet.pdf
Gap by age
The average pay gap between men and women working full time increases with
age:
Between the ages of 15 to 19, women earn more than men (pay gap of -2.7
per cent).
By the age of 45 to 49, men are earning considerably more than women
(26.7 per cent more).
At the age of 50, the pay gap reduces to 20.3 per cent but gradually
increases to 26.6 per cent at the age of 65.
In Belgium
This year’s Equal Pay Day campaign in Belgium focuses on young people and the
relation between their subjects of study, their career and their wage, guided by
the controversial slogan:
Porn is about the only way for women to make more than men
Find a better alternative on equalpayday.be
zij-kant, a progressive women’s movement in Belgium suggests a wellconsidered direction in education and a well-delineated career plan will form
important steps towards pay equity. “Taking care, within your family, of financial
independence and of a good division in housekeeping certainly helps establishing
a proper balance in your life and career”5.
Legislation to eliminate the gap in wages
Examples of initiatives to beef up equal pay enforcement and strengthen
protections against wage discrimination include the following:
The US Paycheck Fairness Act strengthens penalties courts may impose for equal
pay violations and prohibits retaliation against workers who inquire about or
disclose information about employers' wage practices.
The bill provides for compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to back
pay, for women denied equal pay for equal work; authorizes class action equal
pay suits; and directs the U.S. Department of Labor to provide public
information about strategies for identifying and eliminating wage discrimination,
and to issue guidelines for evaluating jobs.
The Paycheck Fairness Act was passed by the House of Representatives on
January 9, 2009, but was defeated on a procedural vote in the Senate on
November 17, 2010.
The US Fair Pay Act would prohibit wage discrimination based on sex, race and
national origin by requiring employers to provide equal pay for work of equal
value, whether or not the jobs are the same. The bill would also ban retaliation
and require employers to file wage information annually with the EEOC.
5
http://www.equalpayday.be/NL/documenten/dossierEN.pdf
Many states in the US are expected to introduce equal pay legislation. State
legislators from California to Georgia and New York are working in
bipartisanship.
These state equal pay bills can generally be grouped into three categories:
Bills that prohibit wage discrimination on the basis of sex, race, and national
origin (and religion and ancestry in some cases);
Bills that enhance current legislation by allowing workers to sue for punitive
and compensatory damages; and
Bills that establish a commission to study the wage gap and recommend
solutions.
Equal Pay Day Alliance in Australia
economic Security4Women is a member of the Equal Pay Day Alliance in
Australia.
Other members include: Amnesty International; Association of Women
Educators (AWE); Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS); Australian
Council of Trade Unions (ACTU); Australian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s
Alliance (AIRWA); Australian Women’s Coalition (AWC) *; Australian National
University - Joan Garvan; Australian Industry Superannuation Trustees;
Business and Professional Women Australia (BPW); Carers Australia; CLW –
Diann Rodgers-Healey; Conflict Resolving Women’s Network - Robyn Gaspari;
economic Security4Women*; Equality Rights Alliance*; Edith Cowan University
WA, School of Management – Prof Rowena Barrett; Faculty of Business, UWA
Business School - Assoc/ Prof Patricia Todd; Federation of Ethnic Communities
Councils of Australia (FECCA); Getup; Industrial Relations Research Centre,
Anne Junor (UNSW); Industry Superannuation Network; Labour Management
Studies Foundation (Macquarie University); Liberty Victoria; Monash University;
Mothers Day Classic; Napoleon Perdis; National Council of Women Australia
(NCWA); National Foundation of Australian Women (NFAW); National Pay Equity
Coalition (NPEC); National Rural Women’s Coalition; National Union of Students;
Network of Refugee and Immigrant Women (NIRWA); Professor Alison Preston,
Graduate School of Business, Cur tin University; Queensland Council Of Social
Services (QCOSS); Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT); Sex
Discrimination Commissioner – Elizabeth Broderick; South Australia Working
Women’s Centre; The Women and Work Research Group (WWRG); The Work
and Organisational Studies Student Society, University of Sydney(WOSOC);
University of South Australia; UnionsWA; Victorian Independent Education
Union; Victoria Women Lawyers; VIEW clubs of Australia; Women in Adult and
Vocational Education (WAVE); Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) - Eva Cox;
Women’s Information (WIRE); Women in Super; Work and Family Round Table;
YWCA; 2020Women
( * represent ing over 70 organisat ions)
The international federation of one of the key member organisations of eS4W,
Business Professional Women Australia, aim to work towards reducing the
damaging and substantial income gap between women and men, and to do this
they want to encourage and motivate BPW affiliates all over the world to
establish an Equal Pay Day in their own country6.
6
http://equal-pay-day.com/index.php?id=4