Study: Gender gap in pay can be reduced through reform of wage systems
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According to a study by the Helsinki University of Technology, differences in pay between men and women can be reduced by instituting wage arrangements based on assessments the tasks required.
The study found that the most important factors in reducing the gender pay gap are sufficient managerial skills in making assessments, equality in the evaluation of the requirements of the job, and the competence of the person in question.
The researchers assessed wage and salary systems based on the demands of the job, personal competence, and job performance in municipal and industrial workplaces.
The study involved five local authorities, three chemical industry enterprises, one food producer, and two technology companies.
According to the study, the municipal sector did not show a significant narrowing of the gap in pay between men and women. In several industrial organisations, new pay systems appear to have significantly reduced differences in pay.
"This was especially strong in the chemical industry, where the difference declined by 30 percent. The smaller change in other sectors can be explained by the fact that the starting point was better", says Carita Lahti, project chief at the BIT Research Centre of the University of Technology.
The study shows that there is an excessive focus on the structures of pay systems, whereas more attention needs to be paid to how the systems function, and to their appropriate implementation.
"Opening pay review mechanisms to personnel is a special challenge. Personnel should know both what a person's wages comprise, as well as how it can be influenced", Lahti says.
Pay inequality is caused both by practices at work places, as well as issues related to social and individual attitudes. There is little public information available about individual pay levels, and women are generally known to be reluctant to demand equal pay with men.
According to Professor Matti Vartiainen, necessary measures include a discussion of values, a commitment to change by labour market organisations, and changes in attitudes.
"Equal pay is a systematic whole, for which there is no precise medicine. It requires a combination of medicines."
The Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Tuula Haatainen, called for a shakeup in attitudes.
"There is plenty of history in the background, but the wall needs to be broken. We need concrete actions and research in order to make visible the kinds of demands that jobs in predominantly female professions set up for those who do them", says Haatainen, who has worked as a nurse - a notoriously underpaid predominantly female profession.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 10.8.2006 - TODAY |
 Study: Gender gap in pay can be reduced through reform of wage systems |
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