Governments and Social Partners Initiatives in addressing the Gender Pay Gap

1. Governments and Social Partners Initiatives in addressing the Gender Pay Gap Christine Aumayr-Pintar Seminar on Gender Pay Gap: European Perspectives 27 February 2013 European Union House, Dublin

2. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) • Established in 1975 in Dublin • EU Agency under auspices of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion • Tripartite Board (Business Europe, ETUC, National Governments, European Commission) ‘To provide information, advice and expertise – on living and working conditions and industrial relations in Europe – for key actors in the field of EU social policy on the basis of comparative information, research and analysis’

3. Overview 2. Governments and social partner initiatives until 2009 1. What can we learn from studies that “adjust the gap”? 3. The case of Austria: Pay transparency within the Gender equality national action plan

4. Adjusted and unadjusted gender pay gap

5. “Adjusting” the gender pay gap Unadjusted gap: Difference between earnings of men and women Adjusted gap: “Discriminatory component” Type of contract Personal characteristics, family Job history, tenure Job, company and workplace characteristics Contextual variables (e.g. regional unemployment) Institutional variables (e.g. bargaining system) “holistic approach” – Rubery, Grimshaw, Figueiredo (2005)

6. Summary of 27 national Studies on the GPG Contractual characteristics Job/Firm characteristics Sector, occupation, firm size Personal characteristics Education, age, family status Job history Contextual variables Industrial relations variables Coll. agreement, works council, member of trade union

7. Mapping of quantitative adjustment studies and qualitative studies • Personal characteristics (age, education, …) account for an increasingly smaller fraction of the Gender Pay Gap (GPG), but: • Occupational or horizontal segregation • Vertical segregation and stereotypes • Care responsibilities • Work experience and tenure • Life course, career development • Job valuation • Industrial relations and collective bargaining Direct influence of social partners

8. Industrial relations impact: findings of quantitative studies • Centralised wage bargaining reduces GPG • Ireland, Spain: sectoral level bargaining • Having a works council or a collective wage agreement reduces GPG • Germany • Introduction of minimum wages or social security thresholds • Bulgaria, UK • Predominance of Trade Union representation in male sectors increases the GPG • Hungary, Ireland

9. Government initiatives (until 2009) AT, 2007: Legal claim to premium rates for overtime extended to part-time Benefitting low paid occupations FI/NO: Subsidise wages in fem. sectors where valuation and competencies show a high gap; Legislative support for CB Monitoring/transparency • FR: Genisson law • to abolish GPG through CB at • company level • DK/SE/IT: • companies with more than 35, 10, 100 employees are obliged to report on and prevent GPG; • -> 2011: AT; PL? • Intensifying the bargaining process • in sectors & companies DK: Tripartite pay commission • better diagnostic instruments to identify • occupational equality RO/NL: Labour inspectorates • financial penalty for companies who fail • To submit plans for abolishing the GPG • -> 1% of the payroll (1st jan 2012)

10. Trade union initiatives (until 2009) Awareness raising Equal pay days AT, BE, CZ, DK, EE, HU, NL • Most often not linked to pay directly • but Gender Equality in general Internal changes • Members, • representatives • employers/ • employees • wider public Monitoring the wage gap • Online • tools • Training of • representatives • UK:TUC: Project for improving officer’s • ability to bargain over equality issues • DK: Fagligt Fælles Forbund, • 3F – gap at workplace level: > 5%: • contact your TU • EE: EAKL provide their officers with • Handbooks to promote GE in wage setting HU: e-wage barometer 10.000 items on wages, work and employment DE: DGB wage indicator for women • Quota • BE: ACV/CSC: 1/3 women in governing • board (target 2006, not reached yet)

11. Work–life balance Employers organisations initiatives (2009) • UK: Employers for Work–Life Balance Alliance • IT, SE: Employers org. ask for more childcare and/or tax deduction initiatives SI: Family certified enterprise Quota systems Women’s entrepreneurship Few examples • RO: Entrepreneurial school for • women’ (ESF project) • DE: some individual companies • (e.g Daimler) • PL: Media Campaign: • ‘How good to be a businesswoman!’ • DK: Dansk Industri, DI: • database called • ‘Women on board’ SE: Federation of Swedish farmers: Academy of gender equality

12. Information disclosure on wage • differentials Joint initiatives (until 2009) NO: Shop stewards have access to information on wage differentials for use in company-level bargaining, this access is regulated through collective agreements at central or local level. Wage increases for low-paid occupations and other benefits Increase of minimum wages (e.g. BG, UK, SE) Job valuation SE: Jämställdhetspotten: provides additional pay to low paid employees, mainly women. Central coll. agreement + local bargaining. BE: EVA project: reform the system of classifying jobs. Increased nr. of sectoral joint committees deal with it. NO: Public sector: Social Partners can agree that women will be prioritised in company level bargaining (2008 and 2009). Private sector: special pay increases collectively bargained for low-wage groups. NL: Tripartite labour foundation: introduced “checklist on equal pay for payment systems. LT: “Model collective agreement” by national social partners, including Methodology for the Assessment of Jobs and Positions. FI: public sector 2007 CA: equality allowance of 2% for qualified employees in some female-dominated Occupations (e.g. nursery schools) .

13. 3. Pay transparency: The case of Austria • One of the highest GPG in Europe (>25% 2010; 14-18% adjusted) • Government launched national action plan on gender equality • Wide ranging social partner consultations

14. Diversify education & occupational choice May 2010: Social partner agreement on 16 selected measures • Gender sensitive information on education & occupational choice in the 7th and 8th grade • Make gender sensitive occupational choice compulsory in teacher’s training curricula • Information campaign for fathers to spend more time with the family • Working group for the further development of tax incentives related to overtime and part-time in a gender-sensitive way • 3 measures in relation to the offer of child care services • Evaluation of all family-benefits in relation to their impact on gender equality & assessment whether they can be substituted by benefits in kind • Increase of maternity-leave benefits for self-employed women and farmers • Online pay calculator • Guidelines for works councils, HR professionals etc. for the analysis of pay gaps and job evaluation • Pay transparency in job announcements • Definition of equal work acc. to the ECJ in the joint guidelines for negotiators • Joint guidelines of the social partners to foster equality within collective agreements • Income transparency reports • Increase in the number of female board members Increase participation and full-time employment of women Infrastructure for reconciling work and family life Transparent pay Increase in the number of female board members

15. Transparent pay • Online pay calculator • Pay transparency in job announcements • Income transparency reports

16. Income transparency report – the instrument • Step-by-step roll-out • Every two years • Anonymised • Average or median pay by occupational category as of the collective agreements disaggregated by gender • For the works council or accessible for employees • Experiences so far: • Trade unions: some reports do show discrimination: what to do now? • Employers: reports do not show discrimination (fieldwork bonuses, overtime payments… )

17. Conclusions and outlook • Hard to disentangle pay initiatives from more Gender Equality related ones • Some promising initiatives across Europe re. addressing direct discrimination • monitoring/transparency • job re-evaluation & collective bargaining • Do the initiatives on equal pay reach the company level? • Little (reported) Social Partner/Government engagement in addressing the causes of segmentation: • Choice of profession, re-qualification • Social Partners are aware, but also need to put a focus on Gender equality/equal pay • in own organisations • More focus in collective bargaining – also to ensure company level outcomes.

18. Thank you for your interest. Do you have any questions? Dr. Christine Aumayr-Pintar cau@eurofound.europa.eu www.eurofound.europa.eu