DKNY offers T-shirts with empowering messages and a vague promise towards charity giving. McDonald’s inverts its iconic M for one day only. Net-A-Porter has even more T-shirts. The Body Shop hosts Fearne Cotton, while Lloyds Bank sponsors an event of “inspiring women”.
It must be International Women’s Day!
The celebration has changed a lot since its socialist inception in 1909, and its links to the peace movement in 1913 Russia. In Eastern Europe, it remains the tradition to give flowers to the women in your life (an action satirised by this Romanian feminist group).
Here in the UK, International Women’s Day traditions seem to have morphed from political action to a chance for corporations to showcase their (faux) feminist credentials. Come 8 March, and you can’t move for women “business inspiration” events, fashion tie-ins, and discounts on high end sex toys. Even Emmerdale has got in on the action, with an all-women episode.
Big business is clearly keen to cash in with a pink and frilly empowerment message on International Women’s Day. But it’s one thing to change your logo or brand colours one day of the year. Quite another to introduce policies that actually promote women’s equality—including paying women an equal and fair wage.
A further one in ten admitted that women are paid less than men at the same level.
It’s a situation that, according to CEO Dr Carole Easton OBE, means “today’s young women will be retired before equal pay becomes a reality.”
The Young Women’s Trust commissioned YouGov to complete the survey of 802 HR decision-makers across a range of business sizes and sectors. A further poll of young women aged 18-30 conducted by Populus Live found that 19 per cent of respondents were paid less than their male colleagues for the same or similar work, rising to one in four for women aged 25-30.
On a wider scale, the gender pay gap is approximately 18.4 per cent, a number which is significantly larger for BAME women.
Last year, government introduced legislation requiring companies of more than 250 staff to publish their gender pay gap. The resultant data revealed that eight in ten firms paid men more than women.
But the findings from the Young Women’s Trust show that even the pressure to reveal the gender pay gap is not enough to embarrass companies into taking action to ensure equality. This is not helped by the lack of sanctions in place for firms who are found to have a pay gap.
When companies fail to value their female workers as much as their male counterparts, and refuse to pay women the same as men, the impact is manifold.
In this climate of austerity, employer policies that keep women poorer have particularly devastating effects. Women have been hardest hit by austerity measures, not least because women are more likely to access the welfare state.
At the same time, the switch to Universal Credit risks making women more dependent on their male partner. At best, this robs women of their financial autonomy. At worst, it empowers abusive men to financially control their partners.
Secondly, it has a less-discussed emotional impact. This was best expressed by former Today show presenter, Sarah Montague, who told the Sunday Times “I felt like a sap. For years I had been subsidising other people’s lifestyles. I also hadn’t clocked just how professionally damaging it would feel.”
Third, it sets off a cycle of low pay. The common practice of employers asking about an applicant’s previous salary can trap women in an ever-increasing pay gap. When women are paid less, they are automatically at a disadvantage when it comes to salary negotiations. It can also lead to women routinely devaluing their own worth.
Real change requires putting policies in place that reduce economic and social inequality. It means the government sanctioning companies that fail to pay women and men equally, and extending the reporting mechanism to businesses of all sizes. It means reversing austerity policies that push women into greater financial need, and encouraging businesses to drop practices that entrench pay inequality.
Economic independence: now that’s the real meaning of “empowerment.”
It must be International Women’s Day!
The celebration has changed a lot since its socialist inception in 1909, and its links to the peace movement in 1913 Russia. In Eastern Europe, it remains the tradition to give flowers to the women in your life (an action satirised by this Romanian feminist group).
Here in the UK, International Women’s Day traditions seem to have morphed from political action to a chance for corporations to showcase their (faux) feminist credentials. Come 8 March, and you can’t move for women “business inspiration” events, fashion tie-ins, and discounts on high end sex toys. Even Emmerdale has got in on the action, with an all-women episode.
Big business is clearly keen to cash in with a pink and frilly empowerment message on International Women’s Day. But it’s one thing to change your logo or brand colours one day of the year. Quite another to introduce policies that actually promote women’s equality—including paying women an equal and fair wage.
Unfair pay
A report published today by the Young Women’s Trust has revealed shocking statistics on how British businesses are still failing to tackle the gender pay gap—especially for young women. Their report found that one in three surveyed employers say they have not tried to reduce their pay gap in the last year.A further one in ten admitted that women are paid less than men at the same level.
It’s a situation that, according to CEO Dr Carole Easton OBE, means “today’s young women will be retired before equal pay becomes a reality.”
The Young Women’s Trust commissioned YouGov to complete the survey of 802 HR decision-makers across a range of business sizes and sectors. A further poll of young women aged 18-30 conducted by Populus Live found that 19 per cent of respondents were paid less than their male colleagues for the same or similar work, rising to one in four for women aged 25-30.
On a wider scale, the gender pay gap is approximately 18.4 per cent, a number which is significantly larger for BAME women.
Last year, government introduced legislation requiring companies of more than 250 staff to publish their gender pay gap. The resultant data revealed that eight in ten firms paid men more than women.
But the findings from the Young Women’s Trust show that even the pressure to reveal the gender pay gap is not enough to embarrass companies into taking action to ensure equality. This is not helped by the lack of sanctions in place for firms who are found to have a pay gap.
When companies fail to value their female workers as much as their male counterparts, and refuse to pay women the same as men, the impact is manifold.
The impact of austerity
Firstly, it entrenches economic inequality which, in turn, inhibits women’s access to wider equality.In this climate of austerity, employer policies that keep women poorer have particularly devastating effects. Women have been hardest hit by austerity measures, not least because women are more likely to access the welfare state.
At the same time, the switch to Universal Credit risks making women more dependent on their male partner. At best, this robs women of their financial autonomy. At worst, it empowers abusive men to financially control their partners.
Secondly, it has a less-discussed emotional impact. This was best expressed by former Today show presenter, Sarah Montague, who told the Sunday Times “I felt like a sap. For years I had been subsidising other people’s lifestyles. I also hadn’t clocked just how professionally damaging it would feel.”
Third, it sets off a cycle of low pay. The common practice of employers asking about an applicant’s previous salary can trap women in an ever-increasing pay gap. When women are paid less, they are automatically at a disadvantage when it comes to salary negotiations. It can also lead to women routinely devaluing their own worth.
Equality is for life—not just for IWD
In recent years, feminism has moved out of the margins and into the mainstream. But the persistence of the pay gap, and its long-term financial and emotional impact, proves that equality is still a long way down the road. It won’t be achieved by hosting a one-off inspirational event—especially one that enforces a narrative of financial success as a matter of individual effort, and not affected by social inequality. Nor will it be achieved by telling the male actors in your soap to take the day off (maybe women would have liked the day off? Just a thought).Real change requires putting policies in place that reduce economic and social inequality. It means the government sanctioning companies that fail to pay women and men equally, and extending the reporting mechanism to businesses of all sizes. It means reversing austerity policies that push women into greater financial need, and encouraging businesses to drop practices that entrench pay inequality.
Economic independence: now that’s the real meaning of “empowerment.”
