The gender pay gap in the UK may be slowly being addressed by individual businesses and organisations, as its raised profile inspires affirmative action from progressive companies – but the systemic marginalisation of women in professional roles remains a serious issue. Equality in the workplace is a long way from having been achieved, and women still experience discrimination on a daily basis. But what is the landscape of workplace equality at the moment, and what can businesses do to mitigate the upholding of professional discrimination?
The Gender Pay Gap
In the UK at the moment, the gender pay gap stands at 17.3% – meaning that, on average, women earn nearly a fifth less than men. The gender pay gap is often misunderstood, which can lead to contentious and misleading debate over what the statistics actually suggest. It does not solely mean that women are paid less than men in equivalent roles. Granted, this is a common phenomenon – with internalised misogyny playing a part in reduced salary offers for women candidates as opposed to men – but it only describes discrimination in recruitment and does not tell the whole story. Systemic workplace sexism also plays a part, in the form of the ‘glass ceiling’.
Barriers to Promotion
Women experience systemic barriers to promotion across industries, as a result of direct discriminatory practices by employers as well as a systemic preference for men inheriting executive roles. Gender pay gap statistics are often particularly dire as a result of this practice, with executives and business leaders receiving far greater remuneration than women colleagues and subordinates trapped below the glass ceiling.
But progressive businesses are putting directives in place to redress the balance – and there is no shortage of ways in which businesses can actively address a gender discrepancy in leadership roles. Leadership development services enable businesses to nurture talent within their workforce and can be a crucial way to directly provide women on staff with the skills necessary to progress, where training might have previously been inadequate.
The incentive to introduce systems and practices such as this is greater now than before, as workers have begun to realise their worth in numbers. With record resignations occurring at the end of 2021, largely in response to wage stagnation and burnout, companies are more acutely aware than ever of the costs incurred by failing to take care of their employees. With gender-based discrimination a particularly sensitive topic, business leaders risk alienating half of their workforce without adopting relevant measures to counter bias.
Bias Against Mothers
But gender-based bias deep-rooted professionally and culturally, with more barriers to progression found as a result of outdated societal expectations. One specific example of such bias lies in the treatment of new and expecting mothers both in professional roles, and with regard to potential roles. Not only does a stigma attached to the ‘working mother’ mitigate number that return to full-time work, but also women with children are half as likely to experience workplace progression as men in the first five years following childbirth.
Ultimately, the burden is a societal one. Businesses can implement all manner of directives and protocols, from unconscious bias training to creating active roles in professional diversity – but with societal expectations keeping women and mothers in long-held traditional roles, change as a process is frustrated.