Gender-based discrimination in the workplace has been illegal for decades in France and the UK, yet pay inequality persists as an issue in both countries.
For instance, maternity discrimination continues to affect many women, with the Equality and Human Rights Commission finding that around one in nine mothers (11 percent) in England, Scotland, and Wales reported being dismissed, made compulsorily redundant when others were not, or otherwise treated so badly they felt pressured to leave their job.
Analysis by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development finds the median pay gap among UK employers for the reporting year 2022/23 was 9.4 percent. This means women earned 91 pence for every pound earned by men.
So, why is this still happening? To understand the reason, it is essential to analyse the historical, social, and societal dimensions affecting gender pay disparity.
The history of progress
Women have always worked, but their contributions were neither recognised nor fairly compensated for much of history. They were often regarded as “family helpers” or relegated to jobs that were not recorded in official statistics.
It is only recently that historians, notably Margaret Maruani and Monique Meron, have reworked statistics to show the importance of women’s historic contributions to economic activity in France.
Furthermore, marriage typically deprived women of their financial independence, effectively rendering their involvement in the economy invisible. It was only after the 1960s that women gained the right to manage their assets and work without their husbands’ consent en masse.
The decades since have seen various governments attempt to enshrine gender pay parity in legislation – for example, the Equality Act in the UK (2010), which specifically dictates that men and women in the same employment who perform equal work should receive equal pay.
Gender integration in French schools was a similarly late development in the 1960s, and access to prestigious institutions occurred even later. The history of equality in work and therefore in wages is that of the slow conquest of equality in education, promotions, and the gender integration of tasks and jobs. This historical construction influences imaginations and continues to permeate representations regarding the fact that a woman’s path to accessing an ‘important’ position is more complex.
Why there is still a divide
The good news is that women’s overall participation in the workforce is now almost equal to that of men. They also tend to perform better than men academically, enabling women to access jobs that require a high level of specialised expertise.
Nevertheless, men continue to dominate certain fields, such as science and technology, which tend to be more lucrative. In business schools, female students tend to gravitate towards subjects like marketing, whereas men choose finance, a higher-paying sector. This uneven gender distribution of professions perpetuates pay inequality. These systemic barriers continue to hinder women’s access to higher-paying roles in traditionally male industries.
Gender stereotypes continue to exist and shape women’s labour market outcomes. Many have achieved a sort of iconic status.
For instance, women today continue to move towards professions that are traditionally reserved for them, particularly care professions or those in fashion and aesthetics. The care industry in particular is an example of how women tend to be concentrated in lower-paying sectors, where their work remains undervalued, despite its often arduous nature. If asked, most people are aware that they typically assume a nurse is female and a doctor is male.
Other stereotypes promote the idea that women are less suited to scientific subjects or that men perform better in leadership roles. Similarly, people often associate women with traits like gentleness and emotionality, whereas men as viewed as more rational and assertive. These social constructs influence career choices from a young age, reinforcing segregation in the job market and, as a result, pay inequality.
In answer to this challenge, some educational institutions have argued it is vital to help women develop self-confidence. The idea is that, being less accustomed to positions of power or prestigious roles, women supposedly lack confidence.
However, researcher Clémence Perronnet deconstructs this argument. She highlights the danger of blaming women for a lack of self-confidence while also demonstrating that some women are capable of occupying prestigious positions, having high levels of self-confidence, and yet still being victims of gender-based prejudices.
The impact of motherhood also remains a significant hindrance to women’s careers. Progress has been made towards devising more equal parental leave policies that share leave between both partners, but women still typically bear the primary responsibility for domestic tasks.
Looking ahead to new solutions
Though the situation is not perfect, the progress that has been made in the last half-century is enormous and continuing. Recent laws, such as the Rixain Law in France, which strengthens regulations to support gender equality through gender-based quotes and fresh reporting requirements, have helped improve women’s representation in traditionally male-dominated fields.
At the same time, research on the topic of gender disparity has intensified, leading to a better understanding of the factors behind inequality. This provides younger generations with more access to information, giving them a deeper grasp on the issue of the gender pay gap.
Continuing these legislative, educational, and societal efforts to eliminate stereotypes and promote equality across all sectors will remain crucial for women’s labour market outcomes and help organisations build the most talented workforces possible.
