The gaps between men and women are a reality in the labor market in issues such as access to employment and wages. A study conducted by the firm PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) delivered its report ‘Women at work 2023’, in which shows that some of the gaps that deepened globally due to the pandemic have not returned to their previous levels.
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The report analyzed information from 33 countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), including Colombia. Some of the conclusions he presented have to do with the fact that the gender wage gap in the countries increased and also that, with the current scenario, it will take nearly half a century to close the wage gap between men and women.
The firm delivered its 2023 Women at Work Index, which stood at 65.5% according to the data analyzed with a cutoff of 2021. This presented a recovery of 1.1 percentage points in relation to last year’s report, which measured the situation of 2020.
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This, according to the report, is leveraged by the increase in women’s participation in the labor force, along with a slight drop in the unemployment rate for women.
Among the 33 countries analyzed, the female labor force participation rate increased 1.3 percentage points, to 70.8%; while the female unemployment rate fell 0.3 points to 6.4%.
“We see a rebound in the Index leveraged by the increase in women’s labor force participation, along with a slight drop in the female unemployment rate. However, this rally was not high enough for the index to return to its pre-pandemic growth trajectory.”, the report highlighted.
However, according to the firm, the wage gap for gJanuary The OECD average also widened by 0.6 percentage points, to 13.8%.
“An 18-year-old woman entering the workforce today will not see equal pay in her entire working life. At the rate at which the gender pay gap is closing, it will take more than 50 years to reach pay parity”, highlights the consultant in its report.
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This, among other reasons, is related to the amplification that occurred since 2020 in relation to unpaid child care. The result was reflected in an average dedication of eight additional hours to unpaid work at home in the case of women compared to men.
An element that both PwC and the OECD itself recognize as the most complex at present is the “maternity wage penalty”. That is, the lifetime earnings loss experienced by women raising children, caused by underemployment and slower career progression when returning to work after having a child.
According to the multilateral organization, this factor represents between 60% and 75% of the wage gap, depending on the region of the world, while factors such as social norms, gender stereotypes and discrimination complete the equation. This situation is also reinforced by the increasing costs of child care.
The report highlights that future economic growth cannot be solely relied on to close these gaps. According to PwC, “policy solutions must be designed and developed that actively address the underlying causes of inequality that exists today”.
(See: Health services, the sector with the most female presence).
In the face of these challenges, it emphasizes the urgent need for policy solutions that address the immediate problems, as well as the underlying causes of wage inequality between men and women. Among the policy proposals is the creation of accessible child care models or the redesign of paternity leave policies.
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE
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