Women earn 20% less?

[Fnaar]

As in the news today, and similar stories with different figures at any time in the past.
Genuine question: can anyone explain to me how this works?
I've always worked alongside women, in a range of menial, manual and professional jobs.
The rate/salary has always been the same for whoever was doing the job, and this goes back to late 80s, when I had my first employment that wasn't a paper round.
Neither do I know anyone who gets a different rate from whoever they work beside.
So, is it a figure based on averages? In which case what other variables does it take into account?
Is it a figure based on average earnings over a working lifetime? In which case there are things like having kids to take into account (which often take women away from the work market, though less so these days)?
Or are there a whole range of jobs outside my experience in which women are usually paid less for their work?

I don't know how it works, and I've never really been able to appreciate the links from the sociological to the personal. But I HAVE had women say (in semi-serious political pub-type discussions) 'don't forget, we get paid less than you'. To which I've retorted... 'er no, we do the same job, and get the same money'. Or in one case...'er no, you're my boss'.
Answers below, I reckon end of the first page and we can divert it up some amusing branch line.

 

[Spinney]

It is now illegal for people to be given different payment for the same job based on gender, and has been for some time.
I assume the difference you quote is because women are more likely to be employed in lower paid jobs as a whole (e.g. more cleaners and fewer qualified fitters, for example). But that's just a guess... (this is the cafe, after all!)

 

[Archie_tect]

Good set of questions Fnaar- does/ can HMRC release information on pay and gender? Has anyone ever taken part in a questionnaire about salary, either as an employee or an employer- I haven't. Where do the researchers get their information from?

 

[simon the viking]

Mrs V hourly rate is more than mine... I work in retail.... she works as a deputy supervisor in a large accountants department... our monthly pay is about the same but she works a 3rd less hours to get it....

She trained as a P.A and I've told her to go for the next Directors P.A job as the job pays twice what she's on so I can retire at 47.....

 

[ColinJ]

I am sure that things have changed now, but 25 years ago there was a revealing 'shredder fails to properly shred pay review document' incident in our office. One of my colleagues retrieved the document and Sellotaped it back together. It revealed that pay rates for staff doing the same job varied from £10k to £20+k. I was miffed because I was only on about £12k. The one woman in the office, a quiet and skilled professional, was the person on £10k!

 

[GrasB]

A number of women here have taken pauses in their carers to have children. This has resulted in them having a lower pay as they did not move up the pay spines as quickly & also means they have less real experience compared to men. Also women tend to be less willing to make the social/family sacrifices to get very high up (ie. chose their job over their family).

 

[Fnaar]

A number of women here have taken pauses in their carers to have children. This has resulted in them having a lower pay as they did not move up the pay spines as quickly & also means they have less real experience compared to men. Also women tend to be less willing to make the social/family sacrifices to get very high up (ie. chose their job over their family).

That makes sense, by way of an explanation...perhaps it's the way it gets worded when reported that I have a problem with... as in 'women get paid less than men' (not for the same job, in my experience)... or ... we're all getting fitter (I'm not) ... or ... we have more cash to spend (no I don't) etc etc... It's that 'we' (or 'they') being applied across the board... doesn't make sense.
However, 'we' are learning to live with it.

 

[Sods_Laur]

There are lots of reasons.

Women are more likely to work part time
Women are more likely to take time out for family
Sometimes men are preferred for senior jobs over women
Men are more likely to apply for senior sounding jobs (speculatively, women will wait until they are an exact match for the job)

And so on, there are lots of reasons for it and not all of them are due to sexism. Though maternity leave will have a lot to do with it.

 

[colly]

One other factor will be that women will often 'miss out' on deserved promotion because they will be seen as a risky choice because they 'might be having a family soon.'
It happened to Mrs Colly some 30 odd years ago when such things were common and even accepted. She was even told that was the reason. Now of course it would be considered a breach of equality rules but that doesn't mean it's not happening.
So even if a woman does not take time out for 'family reasons' she can still be disadvantaged. That could well have lifelong effects on earnings.

 

[GrasB]

A number of women here have taken pauses in their carers to have children. This has resulted in them having a lower pay as they did not move up the pay spines as quickly & also means they have less real experience compared to men. Also women tend to be less willing to make the social/family sacrifices to get very high up (ie. chose their job over their family).

Of my OH's female peers when she did her PhD she has the most senior post (and thus the most money), also the post seniority is inversely proportional to the number of children each has had. Interestingly she's one of the highest seniority of all her PhD peers male & female.

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Its as simple as this, 100-((Womans wage total / Mans wage total) x 100) = 20%

 

[winjim]

Its as simple as this, 100-((Womans wage total / Mans wage total) x 100) = 20%

In that case it's simplistic enough that it can be safely ignored.