To mark Equal Pay Day, Close the Gap launches new online tool to support employers to report their gender pay gap under new UK regulations

 

Statement in support of the Equal Recognition Campaign and reform of the Gender Recognition Act

As national gender equality organisations and campaigns, Close the Gap, Engender, Equate Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid, Women 50:50 and Zero Tolerance support the realisation of rights of trans people.

Close the Gap calls for cohesive, strategic response as new figures show Scotland’s gender pay gap hasn’t budged

Close the Gap has calculated the new gender pay gap figures for Scotland following the release of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings by the UK Office for National Statistics this morning. The bad news is Scotland’s pay gap hasn’t budged since last year, which sees women still being paid on average 15% less than men. It’s even worse for women working part-time who earn on average a staggering 32% less than men working full-time. Again, no change since last year. In fact, there’s been very little progress on narrowing the pay gap at all in recent years.

Expert women’s organisations call for action on the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work committee gender pay gap inquiry

Close the Gap has co-ordinated a joint response from gender equality organisations in Scotland to the recent Scottish Parliament Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee inquiry report into the gender pay gap.

The Taylor Review: what does it mean for women?

The eagerly awaited report of the Taylor review of modern working practices was published last week, proudly declaring that “many of this review’s recommendations on quality work will directly benefit women”. However, a close read of this report reveals a staggering lack of gender analysis. This complacency, and the assumption that gender equality is implicit, sees women repeatedly left behind by policy making, and despite its assertions the Taylor review is no different. The report runs to 116 pages, is rather verbose, and includes extremely long and unclear recommendations. We’ve written this extended post as a handy guide to the review’s recommendations and themes, and what they mean for women and work.

Five highlights from the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee's inquiry into the pay gap

Yesterday, Close the Gap welcomed the report of the Scottish Parliament Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee inquiry into the gender pay gap. The report No Small Change: The economic potential of closing the pay gap makes 45 recommendations, a number of which are refreshingly bold, to Scottish Government, its agencies, and employers. That the Committee undertook the inquiry is progress itself as the pay gap has hitherto been seen as the purview of equality committees. Increasingly though, the economic case for women's equality is gaining global traction. In 2016, Close the Gap published research which found that equalising men's and women's employment could be worth £17bn to Scotland's economy. The committee led with this figure for the comms around their report.

Close the Gap welcomes Holyrood report which finds clear economic gains to closing the pay gap, worth up to £17bn* to Scotland's economy

Close the Gap welcomes the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee report which reinforces the economic imperative of tackling the gender pay gap, and calls for a national strategy.

Close the Gap launches new Think Business Think Equality test on Pregnancy and Maternity

Are you a BME women? We want to hear about your experiences of work in Scotland.

Close the Gap is developing a research project on black and minority ethnic (BME) women’s experiences of work in Scotland. As part of this work, we’re looking for BME women to participate in focus groups which will discuss your experiences of the workplace.

New Working Paper on Scotland’s Gender Pay Gap Statistics Finds that Progress has Stalled on Realising Equality for Women at Work

Close the Gap has published a new working paper on gender pay gap statistics with a specific analysis of Scotland’s pay gap.

Close the Gap relaunches as charity

Revised draft gender pay gap reporting regulations to be laid before the UK Parliament

2016 has seen a greater focus on the economic benefits of reducing gender pay gap. Close the Gap published Gender Equality Pays, which sets out the evidence of the economic case for addressing women’s labour market inequality. A range of global business organisations including McKinsey and Co, and PwC have also published reports on the business and economic benefits of addressing the gender pay gap.

Equal Pay Day

Today marks Equal Pay Day in the UK when women will in effect be working the rest of the year for free. This day reflects that on average, women are paid less than men. In Scotland gender pay gap is 15%.

The pay gap is stubborn with little significant movement in recent years, reflecting the persistent and entrenched inequalities women face at work.

October (& September) News Roundup

We've been busier than usual bees this past while, so we missed September's news roundup. Not to worry though - we've packed the very best (and worst) stories on women and work into this month's bumper edition. Recent headlines cheer on the (very small) decrease in Scotland's gender pay gap (helpfully using the full-time pay gap, which excludes over 40% of working women), alongside less welcome news that sexism and sexual harassment is considered "the norm" in schools, and TUC research which shows women earn £8500 a year less than men by the time they reach their 50s. Ugh.

New Gender Pay Gap Remains Stubbornly High

Close the Gap has calculated the difference in pay between women and men working in Scotland using the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) tables released from the Office of National Statistics this morning.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

Guest Blog: What does decent work mean to women?

Written by Francis Stuart, Research and Policy Adviser for Oxfam Scotland.

EVENTS: Scotland & UK

In this post you will find a selection of up and coming events and programmes relating to gender equality and women's participation in the labour market.

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August's News Roundup

It's that time of the month again; time to reflect on where women are in the labour market through the medium of the media. One particular story had us all frustrated - the obligatory furore over two reports published on the gender pay gap. Headlines declared 'Scotland's pay gap worst in UK!' (it's not) and 'Pay gap all down to having children!' (wrong again), reducing the complex issue of women's labour market inequality to tomorrow's chip paper. It's great to see the issues faced by women in the workforce receiving more coverage in the media, but this kind of inaccurate and sensationalised reporting just provides fodder for those naysayers who like to insist the pay gap isn't a thing. Women's labour market inequality is complex and entrenched, and worthy of more than a bi-annual write-up. We must change the discussion.