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"Women in male-dominated industries may earn more than those in female-dominated industries, but the gender pay gap persists across all sectors. For example, in the United Kingdom, it’s estimated that female managers in the financial services sector earn up to 39.5 per cent less than their male counterparts [ 1]. Overall, women in formal employment are segregated in a narrower range of sectors and occupations. A 2016 study of trends in women at work by the ILO confirms that in high and upper-middle income countries, the female work force is concentrated in teaching, nursing, health care, office and administrative work, and sales and service industries [2]. These sectors are the ones that tend to be under-valued and underpaid, precisely because of the high numbers of women present. Women are also overrepresented in the low paid, insecure and often unsafe jobs within global supply chains, particularly in agriculture, textile and garment industries. In fact, the majority of the world’s women—up to 80 per cent] [3 in some parts of the world—work in the informal economy, where not only do they lack decent wages, safe working conditions and social protections like health care, maternity protection or paid leave, but women also earn less than men within this sector. Racial and other inequalities also play a role in widening the wage gap for women of colour or from marginalized groups. As revealed by a recent Canadian study, women of colour earn 68 cents for every dollar earned by white women and 79 cents for every dollar earned by black men [4]. Similar findings have emerged from studies in the US, the UK and South Africa. The world of work as we know it is still generally structured around the male “breadwinner” model, with long and rigid working hour arrangements. As women become mothers, they bear the “motherhood penalty”—in order to balance family responsibilities and paid work, women accept part-time, casual or underpaid jobs, or work in the informal economy. In pregnancy, they may also face discrimination, which can lead to them being dismissed, harassed out of the workforce, or demoted on their return. Taking time out to care for children also slows women’s career progression." https://www.unwomen.org/

"Closing the gender pay gap requires a package of measures, central to which is decent work. One of the most effective and quickest ways to narrow gender pay gaps is through minimum living wages (or wage floors) and universal social protection. Minimum living wages benefit all low paid workers. Since women are starkly overrepresented in low paid work, it would usually benefit women more dramatically. Germany, for example, recently introduced a national minimum wage to tackle its stubborn gender wage gap of 22.4 per cent. This needs to be backed up by universal social protection, which entails income security to the unemployed or underemployed (the majority of whom again are women), paid maternity leave, child care and other social and health care support, insurance against lost earnings due to sickness or occupational injuries and, of course, adequate pensions in retirement. It’s crucial that such protections are extended to workers in the informal economy, who are often excluded, and overwhelmingly female. Ensuring that workers have freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively is also an important part of the solution. In the United States, the wage gap between men and women is 11 per cent for union women, compared to 22 per cent on average [6]. And in the United Kingdom, the wages of women union members are on average 30 per cent higher than those of non-unionized women [7]. The package of measures to close the gender pay gap must include the provision of quality public childcare and elderly care services, family friendly work-place policies. Policy measures that encourage men to share care responsibilities–for instance paternity leave—have proven useful to changing the social norms that drive the gender wage gap. The Scandinavian countries are a case in point and have so far made the most progress in this area. Transparency within companies in criteria and decisions concerning pay can also help prevent gender bias." https://www.unwomen.org/

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