Guidelines for Measurement in Workplaces and Sectors
There are many reasons that women earn less than men, on average, worldwide—fewer opportunities for paid employment, lower paying jobs in industries with predominantly female workforces, more time spent on unpaid labor, and more. Worldwide, these many factors contribute to an average “gender pay gap” of 19%. It’s clear that we must account for these gender imbalances if we hope to secure living wages for all workers.
While there are many analyses of gender pay gaps at the global and country level, until now there has been little guidance available on how to measure gender pay gaps within workplaces and sectors—something that is badly needed to support practical solutions to this problem.
The Anker Research Institute is pleased to introduce its new Guidelines for Understanding Gender Pay Gaps Around the World to fill that need.
The guidelines aim to provide robust, credible information on the size of gender pay gaps in workplaces and sectors. More importantly, they also allow users to measure direct determinants—like gender differences in work activities, supervisory responsibilities, working hours, types of contracts, etc.—and indirect determinants—like social, cultural, legal, economic, political, and institutional aspects—of those gaps to help guide reform.
A brief overview of the guidelines and their use is available on the Global Living Wage Coalition website now. After pilot testing, the guidelines will be released as a public resource to support wage improvement work within companies and at the industry and regulatory level.
Development of these guidelines made possible by generous support from Fairtrade International.
Get Involved
The Anker Research Institute is now working with companies and other institutions to test the guidelines in practice. We are accepting inquiries to pilot test this resource. If your organization is interested in collaborating with the Institute to measure gender pay gaps in a company, supply chain, or sector, please contact inquiries@ankerinstitute.org.
(Cover photo credit: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture)
