Balancing The Wheel: On Equal Pay Rights

Gender discrimination has a long history across cultures and national boundaries. Discriminations in pay structures are a problem gauging women workers across the globe that needs to be addressed.

Despite activism about equal pay rights for women, there exists a substantial gap in pay structures of men and women. On an average most women get paid at a depressing amount of 50% less than that of men. Some have argued that discrimination has nothing to do with the average difference in pay structure between men and women. It is more often individual career choices that women make —juggling family and work life. While it is true that these factors do play an important role in shaping the salary structure—there’s more to add about the concept of equal work and equal pay.

Studies have found that occupation, hours of work and economic sector helps one understand these gaps in pay structures between male and female employees. Let us take a detailed look at the emergence of campaign for Equal Pay for Equal Work.

The concept in labour rights that refers to individuals doing the same work should receive the same remuneration is referred to as Equal Pay for Equal Work. Commonly used in context of gender discrimination it has much more to do with only women at work. Apart from addressing basic salary issues it also refers to the wide range of benefits, non-salary payment allowances and bonuses that are paid to women workers.

There is a long history behind the crusade for equal pay that is still continuing. The demand for equal pay was something that was not always supported by stalwarts of the society rather had faced active resistance. As a movement it does not have any specific leader as such though a constant part of labour forces in various countries excluded women from the mainstream workforce.

A Historical Perspective

According to historical evidences, this kind of a petition for equal pay surfaced during the early 1830s. Four examples are noteworthy in this category; the first were the petitions enunciated by women who worked at Robert Owen’s ‘Labour Exchange’ in Gray’s Inn, London. They were supported by male trade unionists. In the same year, similar demands were made by the card settlers of Highton and Scholes. In 1833 members of the Women Power Loom Weavers Association in Glasgow, raised their voice about equal payment opportunities. By 1834, a large scale demand was meted out by the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union (GNCTU) that vehemently advocated for equal pay packages. The GNCTU encouraged activities with some success. However, the agitation created by GNCTU was short lived as the union met with its demise very soon. After this, women workers suffered terribly only to be refurbished in the early years of 1880s. The Women Suffragette Movement along with unrest of the trade unions influenced the demand for equal pay once again.

As the twentieth century ushered in, the National Federation of Women Workers under the leadership of Mary Macurther, a Scottish suffragist did make a lot of difference in this regard.

It might come as a surprise, but World War I witnessed massive recruitment of women into several kinds of jobs that were left vacant by men. By 1916, women workers were drawn and gradually accepted into the mainstream workforce. Another profession unfolded for women – that of teaching. The Inter-War period turned out to be peak of women employment at times provoking contradictory attitudes among various sections of the society.

During the Second World War, women’s presence was felt in social production. By 1943, nearly 8 million of Europe’s workforce comprised women.

However, despites such changes, the fight for equal pay right continued to remain a burning issue. Campaigns were launched by various groups demanding equal pay rights.

In the Modern World

It is quite heartening to see that even today, and in countries across the globe, women are still fighting for the cause. Indian is no exception. In every segment, and especially in the corporate set up, women have to still cope-up with gender discriminations, power play and of course there is the fight for an equal parity with menfolk. Even in the 2020 Covid 19 pandemic, we saw millions of women working as health workers across the globe.

While equal pay for work still continues to be a concern for millions of women across the globe, nonetheless it is noteworthy that women have fought against all kinds of social evils and have been able carve out a respectable space for themselves under the sun.

Almost all countries have introduced industry forums and networks that help women workers deal more effectively with challenges in the workplace, particularly in terms of their careers. Such forums aim at developing and initiating dialogues on women’s prospects at workplace and harness their ambitions. Most importantly influence the collective thinking of the society at large.    

Though it cannot be withered that gender discrimination exists almost everywhere and discriminations in pay structures are nothing but allusions to such notions.

The pay-gap between men and womenfolk is multidimensional malady with a multitude of solutions including the often cited family matter and obviously other numerous angles. Though achieving equality seems to be somewhat farfetched, but nonetheless we can always look forward to a better world to work to live in. 

 The article was first published here