Gender Pay Gap Within Construction
13 April 2018
We may well have blown the trumpet on this one many times before but it is still a major issue within the construction industry. In fact the Construction News has reported that the construction industry are the worst offenders.
The gender pay gap reflects the differences in the median hourly wage for a man and a woman in an organisation. We also note that by April 4th all UK companies with 250 employees or more were required to declare their gender pay gap to the Government Equalities Office and this information is now published.
Some of the gaps are reported to be as big as 40% or more which is appalling considering the work that is carried out within the roles are of similar standards/expertise. Much of the gap comes from historical and social issues, as we know in the past women were never seemed to have been equal. Nonetheless this is not an excuse and actions need to be enforced to shrink the gap and finally get rid of it altogether.
But how to do this? There are no quick solutions. Firstly organisations need to attract and retain more women. Additionally there should be more consideration regarding more equal gender hiring on apprenticeships and graduate schemes plus better maternity packages and flexible working arrangements. Perhaps we also need to look at getting more women into Sciences, Engineering, Technology and Design? There is no 'quick fix' for this issue, it will be take time to close the gap and for women to earn their salaries as equals.