Ending gender pay differentials starts at workplace
Efforts to eradicate pay differences between men and women for the same work have remained a stubborn problem despite new equality legislation due to be introduced this autumn.
A report drawn up for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, submitted at the end of August, finds that a government equal pay programme is needed to end unjustified pay differentials and that this should be prepared in cooperation with employee’s and employers’ organisations. The study looks at the prerequisites for the creation of such a programme.
The report finds that efforts to promote equal pay must be started at the workplace. All components of pay - job and task specific, assessment of individual performance, competence and results - must treat women and men equally.
The new Act on Equality between Women and Men will help promote equal pay, according to the report, but it will not greatly influence gender wage differentials between companies, organisations or branches of business.
The report contains a range of proposals for desegregating the labour market and for labour market organisations to create methods for developing equal pay systems.