It’s been 55 years since the Equal Pay Act was introduced and it’s estimated that it could take a further 45 years before equal pay is achieved in the UK.
This article was written by Ruth Healey, President of Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI).
Image: Ruth Healey
A century will have passed since this landmark Act of Parliament was introduced and only then will we start to see all women receiving equal pay for equal work.
As President of a charity which inspires action to transform the lives of women and girls, statistics like this both sadden and infuriate me. It’s accepted that getting money into the hands of women helps to tear down barriers that block women’s progress. So why is progress still so slow? It’s a question I frequently ponder.
Money in the hands of women, as we all know, means that women have choices. They don’t have to stay with abusive partners, can give their children the education they deserve and are empowered to live with dignity and choice.
But the implications of the gender pay gap, and outright discrimination doesn’t stop at financial disparity. The impact is far greater.
Women’s inability to accumulate wealth throughout their often-stunted careers can lead to a lack of access to services and, also, to poorer health. Plus, the gap has a profound effect on mental health.
Self-esteem and self-confidence are very much derived from the purpose we attribute to work. Research published in the Social Science and Medicine Journal shows that women’s structurally embedded experiences have a substantial impact on their mental health. The stark realisation that women are undervalued and underappreciated is driving depression and anxiety in millions of women.
The study found that women, whose income was lower than their male counterparts, had nearly a two and a half times higher risk of depression and a four times higher chance of anxiety.
Poverty in old age also becomes a bleak reality for women, having less opportunity to accumulate wealth throughout their lives than men. In retirement, a lifetime of disruptive or part-time work – and even underemployment – impacts financial security and leaves many women exposed.
My career has largely been spent in business and I’ve worked for many years as a Finance Director. Whilst pay gaps do vary widely between sectors, it greatly disappoints me that the UK’s finance sector sees one of the greatest sectoral disparities. Women earn a staggering 29.8% less than men in the financial sector – almost twice as high as the national average.
Whilst companies with more than 250 employees must now provide specific data in a bid for transparency and things are marginally improving, the gender pay gap in finance is persistently depressing.
Women are simply not progressing into C-suite roles and the latest government-backed Women in Finance Charter review found that the share of women in financial leadership roles rose to 36% in 2024 – only one point higher than the previous year.
Older women are disproportionately affected by the gender pay gap as it is significantly larger for those over 40, compared to employees under 40. As these women near retirement age, their accrued earnings lag behind men and, as before, long-term financial insecurity beckons. The pay disparity among ethnic groups is even more evident with black African women earning 26% less than men and Bangladeshi women facing a 28% wage gap. On top of this, Pakistani women experience an outrageous 31% imbalance.
We must work collectively and collaboratively to ensure progression for all women, and particularly those from diverse backgrounds.
Key to this is getting all women into the higher echelons of management where there’s severe under-representation.
It’s critical for closing the gender pay gap and will also improve organisational performance and decision-making. At Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI), we work to transform the lives of women and girls through grassroots action.
SIGBI has UN consultative status and a total of 3,705 members in the United Kingdom. As a charity, we focus on empowering women and girls of all ages to achieve their full potential and work to eliminate barriers and discriminations that hinder women’s progress nationally and internationally.
Our club members are part of the global Soroptimist movement which has nearly 66,000 members worldwide and our projects take us into communities where our members are dedicated to advancing women’s equality.
Many of the projects are in areas of deprivation where the slow rate of change means increased poverty, missed opportunities and perpetual inequality. It was very interesting to read recently about a new UK-wide index on gender equality by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London.
Drawing on data from 2021-2023, the index measures outcomes across six key domains: paid work, unpaid work, money, power and participation, education, and health.
The analysis reveals areas ranking bottom for gender inequality are very often regions facing economic challenges following the decline of traditional industries such as mining, manufacturing, fishing, and agriculture.
The findings confirm a blunt north/south divide and King’s College has recommended incorporating gender analysis into regional development plans to help untap economic potential in those areas experiencing high gender inequality.
At SIGBI, we totally agree and frequently lobby government through our consultative UN Status to implement policies which take womens’ and girls’ needs into account.
Pay transparency and equal pay audits must become commonplace in work environments. Whilst there has been greater adoption of flexible and work-life balance options in recent years, the UK can – and must – go much further.
All forms of gender equality must be promoted, and they must be rooted in legal and policy changes too.
Only by working together and taking a multi-faceted approach can we support women’s economic empowerment and end what looks destined to be a century of painfully slow progress.
Photo by Cody Pulliam
In related news:
Opinion: care is vital for public sector leaders to build engagement
Leave a Reply