Mind the GAP! Joint actions of workers’ organizations for bridging the gender pay gap

Abstract

Globally, females have a lower labour market activation rate than males and are more likely to be engaged in informal, part-time, and lower status positions resulting in lower paid work (ILO, 2018). Indeed, the gender pay gap is a reflection of wider inequalities, as gender intersects with other structural factors of discrimination including social class, age, race, and ethnicity. The gender pay gap is also caused by a segregated labour market as well as gendered caring responsibilities. Women and men tend to be concentrated in divergent job sectors which hold unequal status positions (Blau and Kahn, 2017). On an international level, 75 percent of all unpaid care work is undertaken by women (UN Women, 2022), resulting in career breaks and shorter paid working hours. Despite being illegal in various jurisdictions, gender pay gaps also exist in same work of equal value sites through both direct and indirect forms of discrimination. As part of wider gender inequality, the gender pay gap is the result of multiple factors, and thus effective redress demands holistic action.