4 ways to close the gender pay gap

Do salary histories hold women back? What about maternity breaks and part-time options? Instead of dwelling on what doesn’t work, hone in on what can.

Organizations and their leaders should consider a range of ideas aimed at closing the gender pay gap, including the following four:

1. Start from the assumption that gender bias matters

Resist the temptation to explain the gender pay gap away by pointing to factors such as women choosing lower-paid jobs and men being more numerous in senior positions. These factors also reflect gender bias. Instead, start from the assumption that the gender pay gap has arisen because there is gender bias in your organization. This may feel like an uncomfortable admission, but it will direct organizational attention to solutions that attack the root cause of gender bias.

2. Increase pay transparency

Many firms inadvertently exacerbate the gender pay gap by encouraging – if not contractually obliging – pay secrecy. Women rarely know they are being underpaid relative to their male peers because they don’t know who’s earning what. Without this knowledge, they are unable to renegotiate their salary effectively. Many organizations are obliged to publish salary scales (e.g., universities and government departments). However, pay transparency can also be achieved informally by encouraging employees to share salary information with each other.

3. Prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) from the very top of the org chart

Organizations with top-level accountability for DE&I tend to be fairer in all areas, including remuneration. This means allocating human, financial, and attentional capital to DE&I and tackling issues such as the gender pay gap in a holistic manner. Organizations relying on piecemeal training and initiatives that delegate DE&I down to management level rarely gain traction on equality and equity efforts.

4. Be impatient to make important changes happen now

Make bold decisions and take radical measures. For example, in 2016, the University of Essex’s Vice Chancellor Anthony Forster announced aone-off pay rise to female faculty;a move that he described as motivated by “impatience with failing to close the pay gap quickly enough.” In making a move like this, Forster and his administration demonstrated that they were ready to effectively re-evaluate an entire class of workers. And that takes guts.

I’m convinced that the only way to close the gender pay gap is to demand systemic change from organizations themselves. Is yours doing enough?

Raina Brands

Professor and Consultant at University College London School of Management, Co-founder of Career Equally

Raina Brands is an award-winning professor and consultant at University College London School of Management, also serves as the Co-founder of Career Equally, a notable endeavor in her distinguished career. A core focus of her research is to understand how the informal organization shapes individuals’ careers and how organizations can directly intervene in these processes to create more meritocratic and inclusive organizations. Her work has been published in the top journals in the field of management and has also garnered international press coverage.

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