The government have announced that companies underpaying female employees and contributing to the gender gap will be named and shamed. The move, which has been suggested by Prime Minister, David Cameron, will aim to “end the gender pay gap in a generation”.
Businesses with more than 250 members of staff will be forced to disclose the salaries of all staff and any difference between males and females. Despite the initial rejection from the Conservatives when in coalition, David Cameron has announced that the rule will come into place in the next year.
By forcing companies to reveal the pay gap between the sexes the Prime Minister believes that it “will cast sunlight on the discrepancies and create the pressure we need for change, driving women’s wages up.”
Katja Hall, the deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry said: “Addressing the gender pay gap is the right priority – and we should set a target for reducing it.
“While we believe publishing pay gap data could be misleading, we will work with the Government to ensure rules on what is published are flexible enough to be relevant to each company.”
A consultation will also be held with companies to see how feasible such a policy is and to try and encourage more females to branch out in their potential careers. There are some positives following the release of the news with 25% of the places on FTSE 100 company boards now being held by women, a drastic rise from previous years.
Although the number of females in employment in the UK, and in particular in Scotland, is growing, there is still an issue regarding the pay gap in the country, with many females being paid significantly less than their male coworkers.
Recent unemployment figures showed that Scotland had a female unemployment rate of 4%, one of the lowest in Europe and lower than the rate in the UK. Despite this positive, according to recent statistics the UK has the fifth largest gender gap in terms of payment in the EU. Women earned an average of 16.4pc less than men in the European Union. Although this is too much, the gap is narrowing. The Eurostat figures showed that there was not only a clear difference in pay but also in position. A number of managers or those hiring workers admitting that they would be put off if a woman had children, was likely to take maternity leave or was at a childbearing age. According to the TUC, austerity has had a much wider impact on females than males, with many companies not willing to spend as much to ensure that gender discrimination is a priority.
If you have been discriminated against as a result of your gender, been denied maternity rights or had an unfair dismissal as a result of your gender, contact us today using our online contact form or call our team of employment solicitors on 01224 968 190.
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