For years, women have been pointing out that men are usually paid more for the same work, but the problem still persists around the world. Now, Iceland is taking a fresh approach to eliminate the gender pay gap. The country’s new Equal Pay Standard, which went into effect in early January 2018, requires companies with more than 25 employees to publish salary levels for all positions. In essence, jobs in Iceland will come with non-negotiable, predetermined salaries known to all, for greater fairness and transparency.
Less talk, more action:
- The burden of proving discrimination will shift from the employee to the employer, which must prove pay parity to the Icelandic government.
- In 2012, Iceland mandated a boardroom quota of 40 percent for women at companies with more than 50 employees. The boardrom numbers went from 3 percent to nearly 50 percent.
- Iceland’s parliament is also close to gender parity, with women holding about 40 percent of the seats. In comparison, women hold about 20 percent of the seats in the United States Congress.
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Discussion Comments
I am not sure there is a gender gap. First off, discussion of pay between employees is not supposed to be discussed between employees, but it happens.
Companies and the people who are questioning their pay need to closely compare the (male vs. female in question of equal pay) are they truly equal in skills, training, experience, time on the job, education, loyalty and are they an equal asset to the company?
The next question you need to ask: what are you willing to work for? It is up to the candidate for the job to discuss the amount of pay they want, if they want more pay, ask for it or don't take that job and find a better one. An example would be: Bob has been a roofer for 10 years, he can complete a 100 sq ft roof in one 10 hour day. He can carry four bundles of 50 lb shingles up a ladder at a time, and his employer pays him $500 to do the job. Bob gets five roofs a week making $2,500 a week. Mary has been a roofer for 10 years as well. She can complete a 100 sq ft roof in 5 days working 8 hours a day. She can carry 1 bundle of 50 lb shingles up a ladder at a time, and her employer pays her $500 to do the job as well. Mary does 1 roof a week making $500 a week. Is this equal pay? The answer is yes, this is equal pay, since both Bob and Mary get paid the same amount to do the same job. This is the kind of question people need to ask if they are questioning their pay.
If we took this same Bob and Mary scenario and broke it down, to hourly rate, and they both worked for the same company what would it look like? Bob works four times as fast as Mary and Bob works two hours longer a day, so who should get paid more?
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