Gender pay gap
Published on 17 Feb 2025
According to the Report ‘Women and Men in India 2022’ released by the National Statistical Office, wage disparity between men and women has widened over the past decade with the gap opening up further at higher wage levels. Men in India capture 82% of labour income, while women earn just 18% according to World Inequality Report 2022.
Reason for gender pay gap
✔ Educational Attainment: Despite improvements in women's educational attainment, there can be a gap in the types of educational qualifications and fields of study.
● Example: In 2022-23, women constituted 20% of total seats across the 23 IITs, where high paying placements are offered to the graduates.
✔ Workplace Discrimination: Discrimination and bias against women in the workplace can lead to fewer opportunities for career growth, promotions, and salary increases.
● Example: According to LinkedIn Opportunity Index, 22% working women in India said that their companies showed bias towards men at work.
✔ Inability to Work Irregular Hours: Many jobs require employees to work irregular hours, such as overtime or night shifts and due to security reasons women are unable to work irregular hours.
✔ Lack of Transparency: Lack of transparency in salary structures and compensation policies can contribute to the persistence of the gender pay gap.
✔ Unpaid Care Work: Women often bear a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, including domestic responsibilities and caregiving and it can limit their ability to pursue full-time employment or work longer hours, impacting their earning potential.
● Example: According to a survey by IIM Ahmedabad, women on an average spend 7.2 hours on unpaid domestic work while men spend around 2.8 hours.
Government initiatives to address the gender pay gap
✔ Minimum Wages Act, 1948: Aimed at statutory fixation of minimum wages that must be paid to skilled and unskilled labourers.
✔ Equal Remuneration Act, 1976: Provides for the payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers for the prevention of discrimination. It helps in bridging the gap between unequal remuneration faced by the women of our country.
✔ Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005: It benefited rural women workers and helped reduce the gender pay gap, both directly and indirectly.
✔ The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017: Increased the duration of paid maternity leave available for women employees to 26 weeks from 12 weeks for all women working in establishments employing 10 or more workers.
✔ Skill India Mission: To equip women with market-relevant skills to bridge the learning to-livelihood gap and the gender pay gap.
Way forward
✔ Promote flexible work arrangements: Advocate for and implement flexible work policies, including telecommuting, part-time work, and flexible hours, to support work-life balance for both men and women.
✔ Education and training programs: Develop and support initiatives that provide training and education on negotiation skills and financial literacy for women to empower them in salary negotiations.
✔ Pay transparency: Implement and enforce pay transparency measures, requiring companies to disclose salary data broken down by gender.
✔ Equal pay legislation and enforcement: Strengthen and enforce existing equal pay laws. Introduce new legislation or amend existing laws to ensure that employers provide equal pay for equal work.
Addressing the gender pay gap requires sustained effort and commitment from all sectors of society. By combining legal measures, cultural shifts, and educational initiatives, it is possible to create an environment where men and women are paid equally for their contributions, fostering greater economic equity and social justice.
Tags:
Social Justice
Keywords:
Gender pay gap
Maternity Benefit Act
Skill India Mission
Equal Remuneration Act
Minimum Wages Act
Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 2
Topics:
Social Justice
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