Investigating the gender pay gap in the Maltese financial and insurance services sector : a macro and micro approach

Abstract

Although women have made significant advances in the economic sphere, the gender pay gap remains persistent. Building on Acker’s Theory of Gendered Organisations, the purpose of this study was to explore from a holistic macro-level and micro-level approach focusing on the Financial and Insurance services sector, how family-friendly policies and work incentives for women accompanied by traditional gendered roles and gendered assumptions affect the Maltese gender pay gap. Through a qualitative approach, document analysis and structured interviews were carried out. Through a purposive sampling technique, legislation and official policy documents were chosen for document analysis. The interview sample consisted of twelve participants who held an HR managerial position within the Financial sector. The findings concluded that at a macro-level, underlying gendered assumptions feed into family-friendly policies and work incentives creating an imbalance which hinder women from career advancement or else limit them to low-paying jobs thereby contributing to the pay gap. From an HR perspective, the research identified how traditional gendered roles and biases affect mothers’ career prospects, resulting in vertical segregation which affects the pay gap. The findings show that gender roles affect the uptake of family-friendly policies within this sector, with mostly women availing from such measures. The biases and misconceptions associated with the uptake of family-friendly measures together with the expectance of long working hours negatively affects mothers’ progression to higher managerial roles, enhancing the glass ceiling effect within the Financial and Insurance industry. This study concluded that further policy action needs to be taken to ensure that current and future government policies ensure that national family-friendly policies and the Financial and Insurance sector become more gender inclusive.