On the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, FiLiA’s Policy Assistant Adeline gives a short introduction to the concept of equal pay.

What is equal pay?

Equal pay, or pay parity, is the principle that women and men must be paid the same amount of money for performing the same work, or for work of equal value. It was enshrined in the Equal Pay Act of 1970, but its provisions have been mostly superseded by the Equality Act 2010. Prior to the Equal Pay Act, it was common for employers to openly pay women less than men for the same or equivalent jobs, purely on the basis of sex.

Equal pay was enshrined in law on 22nd May 1970, following a brave campaign from a group of female sewing machinists at the Ford car factory in Dagenham, England, who realised that they were being paid less than male factory workers despite their work requiring the same level of skill. You can read more about them in this TUC case study.

Importantly, the concept of unequal pay does not refer to the total gap in pay between women and men, which is referred to in policy circles as the “Gender Pay Gap”. Though equal pay is a contributor to the gap, the gap is also created by other differences, such as the fact that women are more likely to take career breaks, more likely to work in low-paid jobs, and less likely to be promoted. Yes, this is sex discrimination – but it’s technically not the same thing as unequal pay.

Despite the principle of equal pay now being enshrined in law, evidence suggests that women are still likely to be paid less than men for equivalent work. Frustratingly, the Government underplays the extent to which unequal pay contributes to the total gap in pay between women and men.

Why does unequal pay still exist?

Unequal pay, the practice of paying women less than men for the same work, or for work of equal value, was outlawed in the UK in 1970. But unequal pay still persists 50 years after the Equal Pay Act. This is for a few reasons:

• Sexism. Louder for the people at the back! Consciously or unconsciously, some employers still perceive women as being less competent, intelligent and dedicated to their jobs than men, due to gender stereotypes and especially assumptions about working mums. This means that women tend to be offered lower starting salaries, or receive smaller pay rises as they progress in a job.

• Lack of enforcement. There is no enforcement body for the Act (i.e. no government body which has powers to oversee and enforce individual companies’ compliance with the Act). This means that it is up to individual women, or Trade Unions, to bring a case against employees. This can often be isolating and difficult for the woman, who will likely not be able to return to her job after the case anyway. This means that many women feel they have more to lose than to gain from prosecuting their employer, even if they are being unfairly paid.

• Lack of awareness. Because we don’t talk about our pay (especially if we’re British!) often we don’t actually know that we’re getting paid less than our male colleagues. This means that employers often get away with paying women unequally, as no one finds out. 

• The law is open to interpretation. It is not illegal for employers to pay two people doing the same job a different amount of money – this makes sense, as one of them might have more experience or more academic qualifications than the other one. However, this opens the door for employers to explain away a case of unequal pay by pointing to another reason for the employee having less pay. The law is also unclear as to what constitutes ‘work of equal value’. We need a tighter law which better defines what constitutes discrimination. 

The Equality Trust’s report, ‘From Pin Money to Fat Cats’contains useful information on ‘high-risk’ practices, which are things that companies do which make them more likely to pay women less than men. You can read it here.

Does unequal pay affect all women?

It is certainly true that, on average, women are paid lessmoney than men for the same or comparable jobs. This doesn’t mean that every single woman is personally affected by unequal pay, but it is definitely something to watch out for in your company, and especially when you are looking for a new job.

Equal pay is also an intersectional issue, meaning that women who also have other protected characteristics, such as BAME women or disabled women, are likely to be paid even less as a result of those characteristics. 

What can we do to change things?

There have been a number of policy measures undertaken to control the problem, such as the “Gender Pay Gap” reporting obligation which means companies with over 250 employees have to publish their pay difference once a year. However, with no penalties for companies which consistently fail to improve their gap, it is unclear how much difference this will make.

Regrettably, after only three years of implementation the Government has said that companies don’t need to report their gap this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is unclear to FiLiA why reporting has been abandoned rather than postponed, especially in a year when we expect to see the gap widen as a result of the pandemic, which is likely to disproportionately affect women’s economic status.

The Fawcett Society is campaigning for a “Right to Know” policy which would allow women the right to request information on the salaries of two comparable employees at their workplace in order to determine whether they are being paid fairly in comparison. FiLiA backs Fawcett’s call for this policy, which would increase the visibility of the equal pay issue in workplaces and hopefully prompt employers to pay more attention to maintaining pay parity between the sexes.

I think I’m a victim of pay discrimination. What can I do?

If you suspect you are being paid less because you are a woman, you have a legal right to ask colleagues in comparable positions what they are being paid. 

If you join a union, they can give you advice and advocate for you if you have a case, especially if your case is part of a systemic equal pay problem in your company.