Analysis: The gender pay gap tells us less about wages and more about company power structures

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Analysis: Economist and lecturer Dr Aedín Doris looks at the recent publications of gender pay figures and what it means for equality in the workplace...

RECENTLY, GENDER PAY gaps are in the news a lot. This is because, under new legislation, all companies with more than 250 workers are now obliged to publish indicators of their gender pay gap on their websites. So what do the gender wage gap figures mean? And what do they not mean?

For those who are interested in the gory details that make this possible, the average gender pay gap is calculated as follows: the total annual pay of all women in a given company is divided by the total annual hours worked by those women to give average hourly pay for women. The same calculation is then done for men. Finally, women’s hourly pay is subtracted from the men’s hourly pay and the gap is converted into a percentage by dividing by the men’s hourly pay.

It’s important to say, though, that these figures don’t tell us anything about gender discrimination. This is because the hourly pay figures that are the basis for the calculations are not designed to compare like with like. Within a given company, all the most qualified workers could be men and all the least qualified workers could be women. In this case, it would be surprising if there weren’t a substantial gap in average and median pay.

Read Next Related Reads Frances Fitzgerald: We hope this will be the year for EU-wide action on violence against women Emer Higgins TD: We can no longer rely on corporate goodwill - gender quotas are a must Holly Cairns: The gender pay gap is a scandal - we must resolve to end it This practice of companies claiming that their big pay gaps aren’t so bad if their best paid workers are excluded can sometimes be less reasonable than Ryanair’s. For example, Arthur Cox solicitors has a mean gender gap of 52%. Even at the median, the gap is 17%. Why? Because partners get paid a lot more than non-partners, and 30% of their male workers are partners, compared to just 8% of their female workers.

 

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Can't a few of the lads just identify as women to balance things out if there really is a gender pay gap? (which there isn't by the way)

Not the worst article I've ever read on this largely non-issue but still biased and lacking.

Absolute garbage

Absolute rubbish. What it actually shows is the effect of choice.

I have never read anything so one sided on its “research”. If women work less hours “it’s taken into account”!! Really? Work less hours and expect to have zero “pay gap”? Let’s not forget this woman gets paid to teach this to students

Real women have more pressing issues to worry about.

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