The way forward: Gender payrole gap

The recent bust of gender pay gap in the British Broadcasting Corporation opened a can of worms, and that includes Carrie Gracie, who resigned from her role as China Editor in protest at being paid less than male foreign editors, amongst many others who are considering filing cases against the broadcaster; Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova said BBC is running a “good old boy’s network” when she realised her male counterpart John McEnroe is paid at least 10 times the amount she receives as a commentator.

Even while these claims are under review HSBC, UK’s largest bank, has once again taken the issue to the core with holding gender pay disparity at 60 per cent, that claims men are paid two and a half times more per hour than women on average. This, though they attribute it to more men at senior level, the bank promises to look into the matter.

The exercise is being carried out at the UK firms under a new government scheme - all companies with more than 250 employees must report their pay gap under an initiative designed to reveal the greater prevalence of men in top-paying jobs and encourage action for change.

On the other hand, Monster.com, in 2018 had released a report reading 20 per cent gender pay gap in India, where men earned a median gross hourly salary of Rs 231, while women earned Rs 184.8. "The gap has narrowed by about five percentage points from 24.8 per cent in 2016," said the latest Monster Salary Index data.

"While men with 0-2 years of experience earned 7.8 per cent higher median wages than women, men with 6-10 years of experience earned 15.3 per cent more. Men with 11 and more years of experience earned 25 per cent higher median wages than women," a statement said.

In the view of the ongoing issue, Priya (name changed), a school teacher, said that “In today’s context the situation is improving but has a long way to go. There are places where women are given good posts and are considered as good as their male counterparts.”

Priya stated that the instances of gender pay gap for women holding higher positions is relatively less when compared to those women working at lower levels. “Women employed at low levels face the dominance of their male counterparts with regards to payment of salaries, though they do an equal amount of work compared to men and sometimes more. Speaking about the issue to the concerned authorities is the only way to eliminate it,” she added.

Bhagirathi, IT employee, said, “There is super discrimination against women seated at higher positions. They are not paid on par with their male counterparts. The salary is fixed, and it is a daunting task to break the glass ceiling hindering them to claim for a pay rise.”

SindhuraDharmasanam, a television actress, said, “Yes, there is this issue of gender pay gap in the workplace but not as much as in the past. The trend is changing as many women are exploring opportunities in various fields following the demand for women at the workplace. However, there are few areas where the difference in pay continues.”

SagarikaGhose, a senior journalist during a talk in Hyderabad related, “There is a lot of discrimination of women at workplace, one of which is gender pay gap. The growing issue can be put to an end only with raising voice against it. The women need to negotiate their pay as men do.”

Back to where it has begun - in an open letter, Gracie, who has been working with BBC for more than 30 years had accused the corporation of having a "secretive and illegal pay culture.” On understanding the statistics, when revealed that its stars earning more than £150,000 were male, she pointed that BBC was facing a "crisis of trust". She left her editor post of the corporation's Beijing bureau and came back to her former role in TV newsroom, where she could expect gender to play no role in salaries.

However, BBC denied it saying “no systemic discrimination against women". She had further said, "I believe you have a right to know that it is breaking equality law and resisting pressure for a fair and transparent pay structure."

While there are a discourse and dialogue in the UK, and the new law paves the way for change that will surely reduce the pay gap between male and female employees; in India, it is still a farfetched dream. As salaries are rarely discussed, a government decree can only open the closet and reveal the truth.