Bis zum 21. März – und damit 80 Tage länger – hätten  Frauen über den Jahreswechsel hinaus arbeiten müssen, um auf das durchschnittliche Jahresgehalt ihrer männlichen Kollegen zu kommen. Am sogenannten „Equal Pay Day“, dem Tag der Lohngleichheit von Männern und Frauen, wollen Frauenverbände und Gewerkschaften in ganz Deutschland gegen den Unterschied bei der Bezahlung demonstrieren.

Denn während die Politik Kitaplätze verspricht, Firmen mit flexiblen Arbeitsmodellen werben und Frauen nach und nach in Vorstände einziehen, tut sich bei den Gehältern nichts. Das belegen aktuelle Zahlen des Statistischen Bundesamtes, das seit 2006 die Gehaltsunterschiede zwischen Männern und Frauen erhebt.

2012 lag der durchschnittliche Bruttostundenverdienst von Frauen bei 15,21 Euro, während Männer im Schnitt 19,60 Euro erhielten. Das ist eine Differenz von 22 Prozent und obendrein noch die gleiche wie schon 2011 und 2010. Wie wenig sich in den vergangenen Jahren verändert hat, zeigt auch der Blick auf die erste Berechnung 2006 – damals lag die Lohndifferenz bei 23 Prozent. Im Westen ist der Unterschied unverändert hoch (24 Prozent), im Osten deutlich niedriger, aber leicht ansteigend (acht Prozent).

Doch warum tut sich nichts bei der Bezahlung von Frauen? Ein Grund ist die Qualifikation. „Betrachtet man den gesamten Arbeitsmarkt, sind Männer im Schnitt noch immer höher qualifiziert als Frauen“, sagt Hermann Gartner, Experte am Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB). Bei den jungen Menschen, die heute die Universitäten verlassen, sei das genau andersherum. „Die Frauen holen derzeit auf, aber eine solche Entwicklung dauert.“

                    Source: Eurostat 2010 (except for Greece: 2008)

Hinzu komme der stark gewachsene Niedriglohnsektor. „In Minijobs und anderen gering bezahlten Arbeitsverhältnissen arbeiten überwiegend Frauen“, sagt Gartner. Hier aber seien in den vergangenen Jahren die Löhne nicht gestiegen. Im Gegenzug hätten die Gehälter der Besserverdienenden zugelegt. „Gerade die Vergütungen von Managern oder gefragten Fachkräften wie Ingenieuren sind überproportional gestiegen, und in diesen Positionen arbeiten in erster Line Männer“, sagt Gartner. Zudem nehmen mehr Frauen (7,7 Millionen) Lohnabschläge durch Teilzeit hin als Männer (1,8 Millionen). Blickt man nicht auf den gesamten Arbeitsmarkt, sondern nur auf Männer und Frauen mit vergleichbarer Qualifikation und Tätigkeit, bleibt ein Lohnunterschied von sieben Prozent.  Das Statistische Bundesamt erhebt diese Zahl alle vier Jahre, zuletzt 2010. Das IAB, das die Berufe breiter definiert, kommt dagegen auf zwölf Prozent. „Vergleicht man eine Sachbearbeiterin mit dem männlichen Kollegen, ergibt sich ein Gehaltsunterschied zum Beispiel aus einer Unterbrechung der Arbeit für die Kindererziehung oder die Pflege von Angehörigen“, sagt Gartner. Das ist auch ein Grund, warum der Verdienstabstand mit dem Alter steigt, von zwei Prozent beim Berufseinstieg auf 24 Prozent bei den 35- bis 44-Jährigen. Auch würden Männer häufiger mit Sonderaufgaben betreut, die Zulagen einbrächten. Sogar im öffentlichen Dienst mit seiner transparenten Tarifstruktur bleibt eine Lohndifferenz von acht Prozent zwischen Männern und Frauen, teilte der Beamtenbund (dbb) mit. Der Frauenanteil liegt bei 53 Prozent.

Eine Prognose, wann die Lücke sich verkleinern könnte, kann das IAB nicht abgeben. „Mittelfristig dürften die vielen gut qualifizierten Frauen den Unterschied verringern“, sagt Gartner. Damit sich signifikant etwas ändere, seien aber große Anstrengungen seitens der Politik und der Firmen nötig. „Wir brauchen eine bessere Kinderbetreuung, damit Eltern arbeiten können, und eine Reform des Ehegattensplittings, weil es den Einverdienerhaushalt fördert.“ Auch eine Quote könne helfen, damit Frauen mehr Rollenvorbilder in Führungspositionen haben.

Deutschland steht bei den geschlechtsspezifischen Lohnunterschieden im europäischen Vergleich mit dem drittletzten Platz sehr schlecht da. Was machen andere europäische Länder besser?

Hermann Gartner: Ein großer Teil des Unterschieds erklärt sich durch Erwerbsunterbrechung zur Familiengründung. In Frankreich und den skandinavischen Ländern gibt es etwa eine ganz andere Kultur, ein anderes Rollenverständnis. Das belegt auch folgender Vergleich: In Deutschland gibt es mehr Erwachsene als in Frankreich und in Frankreich gibt es trotzdem mehr Kinder als in Deutschland. Dennoch ist in Frankreich die Beteiligung von Frauen am Arbeitsmarkt während der Elternphase höher als in Deutschland – und sie arbeiten häufiger Vollzeit. Dort gelingt es, Familie und Erwerbstätigkeit unter einen Hut zu bekommen. In Deutschland müssen sich die Frauen meistens zwischen einem von beidem entscheiden und sich auch noch dafür rechtfertigen.

Quellen:

Tagesspiegel

web.de

Digging deeper:

International comparison of the gender wage gap in Europe

Four critical areas of gender inequality are considered, which are economic participation (wages, participation levels, access to high-skilled employment), educational attainment, political empowerment and health outcomes.

Here are the top 5 most and least equal countries, according to the newest measurement for the year 2011 (Global Gender Gap Report 2011).

Countries with the most gender equality: Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Ireland.

Countries with the least gender equality: Yemen, Chad, Pakistan, Mali and Saudi Arabia.

This global ranking is, however, somewhat obscure, because the contribution of the different areas of gender inequality is not evident at first sight. A closer look at the composition of the index shows that while 90 percent of gaps in life expectancy and access to education have been closed worldwide, women continue to lag behind men particularly at work and in politics.

Especially in developing regions, women work as many working hours as men, even when having children, but women tend to work more than man in precarious and informal work. They are overrepresented as contributing family workers, especially in the agricultural sector, while men tend more than women to work in the industrial sector and in high status jobs (employers, managerial positions…). Thus, women generally face lower job quality than men.

For more information about gender occupations by sector and by status in developing countries, see related article on this blog: How about gender equity in employment in developing countries?

The main consequence of the gender difference in occupations is that women generally earn less than men. Even in highly developed countries, there still exists a significant wage gap between men and women when considering hourly wages. Hence, women are less covered by social security and more exposed to poverty, especially at older ages – a trend which is generally known as the ‘feminization of poverty’.

For further information about the gender wage gap, see related article on this blog: Reducing the gender wage gap – how to tackle the task?

Finally, all over the world women are significantly less represented in politics. Women’s share in parliaments stays remarkably low even in many developed countries.

See following articles on this blog for more information about women in parliaments: Economists for gender quotas in parliaments./ Women’s legal rights – progress and backlashes.

Women’s share in parliaments is particularly low in France, for example. This is why the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index ranks Germany much better than France. However, concluding that women are generally less discriminated in Germany than in France would be rather premature, as, for example,  the employment composition of the index does not account for working hours. The full time equivalent employment rate for women is much higher in France than in Germany (55% against 45%). The fact that total fertility rates are also significantly higher in France than in Germany (2,1 against 1,3 children per women on average in 2011) suggests that women with children succeed much better to combine work and family life in France than in Germany – an aspect that is neglected by the Gender Gap Index.

For more information about the gender gap index in France and Germany, see the following related article on this blog: Gender Gap Index: Gender equality much higher in Germany than in France!?

At EU level, the gender pay gap is defined as the relative difference in the average gross hourly earnings of women and men within the economy as a whole. Even though there exists a significant gender pay gap in every European country, there are considerable differences between the Member States in this regard, with the pay gap ranging from less than 10% in Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Belgium to more than 20% in Slovakia, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Germany, United Kingdom and Greece and more than 25% in Estonia and Austria.

Source: Data: Eurostat (2008) except for EE (2007); Image: European Commission

The gender pay gap differs widely between France and Germany, which are the both European countries with the most socioeconomic similarities. In Germany, women earn on average 23.2% less than men, whereas in France, women earn “only” 17.1% less than men. In addition, salary gaps have been rising continuously in Germany for more than a decade, while wage gaps have been almost constant in France since 2000 and even sank in the early 2000s. The increase in the gender wage gap in Germany has been especially pronounced in recent years, as the low pay sector has been largely expanded  since 2000 and especially during the recent economic crisis. In France, on the other hand, the legally binding minimum wage helps prevent such a development. The fact that less women in France are in precarious employment and more women are employed full time further reduces the gender wage gap as compared to Germany to a significant extent.

The European Commission cites several causes for the persisting gender wage gap in European countries: The most frequently cited reason is labour market segregation: women tend to work more in sectors and statuses that are not very well paid. Many girls still limit their career choices to a narrow range of jobs  despite their superior academic performance (horizontal segregation). A high proportion of women  is employed in the social services sector, with the majority employed in the lower income segment (for example as elementary school teacher, nurse, social worker, cleaning lady, saleswoman, child care provider), which leads to the fact that women are significantly under-represented in the industry sectors. The job groups in which women are overrepresented usually offer worse career opportunities and lower pay in comparison to male-dominated jobs. Female-dominated jobs are also paid less simply because of their lower social status as “women’s jobs”. Typically masculine job categories, on the other hand, such as engineering and finance, are usually very well paid. At the same time, men and women are employed on different hierarchy levels (vertical segregation). Women tend to get promoted less frequently and find it more difficult to attain management positions. Thus, across all sectors, women are less present in supervisory boards.

However, only a small proportion of the gender wage gap is attributable to differences in productivity between men and women, which result from differences in training, choice of the sector, choice of working hours or limited flexibility caused by family commitments. Career paths of qualified women are blocked by informal and often invisible barriers – this phenomenon is known as the ‘glass ceiling’. The glass ceiling limits women’s access to networks and information within companies. Furthermore, there is evidence that male bosses tend to favour and promote male employees rather than female employees in many companies. Women’s careers often come to a halt when they reach middle management. It is mainly women themselves who come to suffer from this. The wage inequality has an impact throughout women’s lives and especially when they retire as lower salaries lead to lower pensions and a higher risk of poverty in older age.  However, there is rising awareness  that company’s executive management stands to lose or never attains important competencies held by women stuck in middle management.

Since recently, one can observe an increasing political will to reduce the gender wage gap allover Europe.  “Equal pay” initiatives and laws often call for paying women and men the same wage when both do the same job. However, this “direct” wage discimination only accounts for a small part of the gender wage gap. The main main reason why women earn less than men is not because they earn less for doing the same job, but because they do NOT do the same job! Women are underrepresented in the industry sector and in management positions and therefore do not have the same career and wage options than men.

Fighting against the gender wage gap therefore primarily implies enlarging career perspectives for women and encouraging girls and women to take on typically “male” jobs while putting typically “female” soft skills (empathy, social competence, conflict management) into use. At the same time, boys and men should be encouraged to do typical female jobs, especially in social services. This requires gender-conscious school pedagogy to encourage children to choose gender-atypical careers and to break up gender stereotypes.

To further boost women’s career development, there should be mechanisms to help women make the transition from marginal work arrangements to a regular full-time job. Publicly funded initiatives for qualifications and continuing education may be a good start. The introduction of a legally binding minimum wage would also represent an important step towards financial independence and social security for women employed in the low pay sector. In order to advance gender equality in the business world, a female quota for executive and supervisory boards of large companies would be appropriate. Gender mainstreaming and women’s advancement programmes should contain clear goal definitions, responsibilities and binding sanction mechanisms both in the private and the public sector.

Sources: Blog author’s own contribution; FES Report Angela Luci; European Commission

Related article on this blog:  Why French women suceed better in balancing work and family life than German women.

The Fairness in Families Index is produced by the Fatherhood institute in Britain and compiles data from 21 OECD countries. It examines ten indicators including gender equality in parental leave, gender pay gap, percentage of women in parliament and management positions, percentage of GDP spent on childcare and gender gap in part time work and in time spent on childcare.

Australia ranks poorly because of the  lack of parental and paternity leave. The UK also lags behind as UK families get a raw deal on paid paternity leave, time spent caring for children and men and women’s pay.  Only Japan, Austria and Switzerland are ranked less ‘family-friendly’ than the UK.

The Fairness in Families Index suggest that policies are most family friendly in Nordic countries and reveals:

• In Finland, men spend 52.8 minutes caring for education their children for every hour spent by women.
• In Sweden, men get a maximum of 40 weeks full-time equivalent paid leave for men following the birth of a child.
• 37.7% of the part-time workforce in Denmark  is male.

France obtained rank 8 out of 21 countries.  Expenditure on childcare is high in France, but its’ proportion of women  in parlaments is very low.  Germany obtained rank 14.  Gemany’s  is ‘family friendly’ due to its’ full time equivalent paid leave for fathers,  but Germany’s male share of part time workers is very low.

Source: Fairness in Families Index

See related articles on gender indices on this blog:

Top job gender equality ; Gender Gap Index

Three-quarters of women surveyed agreed with the statement that the country still has a long way to go to reach complete gender equality.  Just over half of men (52%) agreed with the statement, and 73% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender respondents agreed with the statement.

Focusing on the workplace, 69% of survey respondents said that women do not receive the same pay as men for doing exactly the same job, according to Harris Interactive. In addition, 62% of respondents agreed that women are often discriminated against in terms of promotions to supervisory and executive jobs.

Viewing these results from a gender perspective 80% of women agreed that they don’t receive the same pay for the same job and 75% agreed that women are discriminated against in their promotions.  The results for men were 58% and 48% respectively, and 79% and 72% respectively for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender respondents.  Overall, 52% of respondents agreed that employers make the conditions of work flexible for women with families who want to work (46% of women and 60% of men).

“In 90 years, many things have changed for women in this country,” according to Harris Interactive. “ And some may argue things are better, but there is still the undercurrent that there are issues, especially when it comes to pay and employment, where things have not yet approached an equal footing with men. Women are sitting in more boardrooms and at the helms of more companies today, but there is a sense they are not yet getting paid the same as men in those positions.”

Source:  Harris Interactive poll