Stereotyping in schools to blame for continuing gender pay gap
THE GOVERNMENT’S failure to tackle gender stereotypes in schools is partly to blame for women still being being paid almost 23 per cent less than men, a report said yesterday.
According to The Women and Work Commission (WWC) – which was set up in 2004 to investigate how the gender pay gap can be closed – it has widened to 22.6 per cent, from 21.9 per cent in 2007 despite “monumental changes in women’s position in the workplace with the employment rate for women now almost 70 per cent.” The full-time gender pay gap, which stood at 12.5 per cent in 2007, is now 12.8 per cent, the report added.
The WWC called for a strategy to tackle stereotyping in careers advice, as women are still being pushed towards more “traditional” jobs.