Understanding the Gender Pay Gap as an Ethical Issue:

The UK Regulations on Gender Pay Gap Reporting

In the UK regulations to publish data on the gender pay gap came into force, companies with over 250 employees were required from 2018 to publish figures on their gender pay gap.  In 2017 the then UK Prime Minister Theresa May called the gender pay gap a ‘burning injustice’.

The gender pay gap is not about equal pay- the Equal Pay Act 1970, updated in 2018 ensures that it is unlawful employment practice for employers to pay less in wages, benefits, or compensation to members of a protected class for “substantially similar work.

The gender pay gap says something else about a company. It is a measure of the median wage – ie the difference between middle ranking men and middle ranking women. The simplest explanation of a difference is that there are more men earning more and more women earning less. But if people get paid the same for the same job why would this happen? This is your task to understand. You will be thinking about why it is that there are more high earning men in top positions, there are likely to be more women working part time and there are likely to be ‘gendered roles’ –

when you think of a doctor who do you picture?

When you think of a nurse who is it?

Exactly. Why do all these things happen?

What should, could and can companies do about it?

the perspective of an employee who has been asked to write a report for senior managers outlining the gender pay gap as an ethical issue . You will need to explore and write about a number of factors including -

Why should the company be looking at this issue from an ethical perspective of ethics?

How might this issue influence the public image of the company?

What alternatives ways are there to think about a  business’ role in society?

Who/what are the stakeholders impacted in the scenario you are reporting on and how are they impacted on?

Where are there examples of business that act responsibly and ones that do not?

You should illustrate this by including research you can find  e.g where is there research that shows good choices benefit companies and bad choices have a negative impact?.

Finally you should conclude with some recommendations for what the company should do (here you may want to look at the reports noted above on ‘understanding your organisation’s gender pay gap’ and ‘Actions to close the gap’.