International Equal Pay Day 2022: How Far Has India Filled The Gap

International Equal Pay Day, annually celebrated on September 18 is the day devoted to bringing issues to light of the gender inequalities regarding pay scale.

In India, where the gender proportion is near equivalent, men earn 82 per cent of the work pay while women get only 18 per cent of it, as per the World Inequality Report 2022. However, a vast number of companies are finding proactive ways to manage the issue of the gender pay gap when CEOs and company boards are making a major push to employ more women.

Dr Esha Khanna, Associate Professor, NMIMS Sarla Anil Modi School of Economics said, "Gender pay gap issues in India are a bit more complex and multi-faceted comprising of socio-economic, cultural and structural factors. Substantial differences are emanating from the low presence of females in high-paying educational degrees and occupational choice."

Women's enrollment in several Work Sectors improved

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2022 said that India positions 135 out of 146 nations in the gender gap. Although the numbers have improved to 140th out of 156 in 2021.

With this, India has also improved in hiring more women for several work sectors. India has worked on its presentation in all the five sub-records of the health and education sectors. The female enrolment in education expanded from 92 per cent in 2012 to 93.57 per cent in 2022, as per WEF information. Their support for tertiary schooling, even though lower than male cooperation, went up from 15 per cent in 2012 to 27.8 per cent in 2022. A huge number of the ladies were educated in 2012; presently, that proportion is climbing towards 66 per cent.

The political section has also likewise shown improvement, however, partiality still exists. There were 11 per cent women in the Parliament in 2012, and in 2022, women filled 14.9 per cent of the positions. In any case, the ratio of women enrolled for ministerial positions declined from 10 per cent in 2012 to 9 per cent in 2022.

"We also need to closely examine the adjusted pay gaps as the pre-existing societal notions and attitude biases towards female household being the primary caregiver of the household are still predominantly influencing the continuity of female workforce participation and lends a low bargaining power, especially in the organised sector," Dr Khanna said.

India is on the way to deal Gender Pay Gap

The government of India is likewise working towards certain ways to control wage inequality. India has sanctioned the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 which is focused on equivalent wages for work of equivalent value for employees, whether men or women. This principle was also adopted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The rising compensation difference in an organisation can also be because women are mostly hired for supportive roles instead of senior-level jobs that have more pay. There is no gender pay inequality at the beginning phases when organisations employ freshers, yet the equality issue begins as women advance in their professions and continue to increment with age and promotion.

However, experts believe that hiring more women in different sectors for different roles can help fill in the pay gap. Also, eliminating gender-based lawful limitations, making financial space for priority expenses like education, as well as carrying out gender-sensitive social advantages can help diminish gender pay inequality altogether.

Dr Khanna said, "Latest NFHS data has shown increasing participation of women in household decisions and financial inclusion reflected by increasing women Jan Dhan accounts. This is reflective of the slow change in patriarchal supremacy. However, complete elimination of social barriers and reduction of disproportionate wage gaps necessitates the need for political and legal empowerment of women and greater gender-sensitive employment policies at work."