Basingstoke Labour Party Womens Officer writes today about recent reports of the gender pay gap.
Fawcett Society Campaign – #PayGapPledge
Despite the Equal Pay Act in 1970, women still earn less than men in Britain today. The current gender pay gap means women effectively stop earning relative to men on a day in November. This day is referred to as Equal Pay Day and varies according to the actual pay gap each year. In 2017, I want to ask you to join me in supporting The Fawcett Society campaign – ‘Equal Pay Day’ on Friday 10th November – the same day as last year.
In Basingstoke & Deane women earn 25.2% less than men. Basingstoke and Deane rank in the bottom 4% for gender wage disparity in the UK. The median average salaries for women in West Berkshire, Hart, Winchester, Reading and the Test Valley are considerably higher than in Basingstoke & Deane.
Perhaps more worrying is the fact that whilst the gender pay gap is narrowing across the South East and nationwide, it has widened in the last year in Basingstoke & Deane. In the last 12 months, the median female hourly equivalent wage has fallen by 4% whilst the male wage has risen by 1.5%
Equal Pay Day comes around once a year, but the gender pay gap exists every hour of every day. Here’s what you can do to make a change now:
- Have a conversation at work about pay and find out what your colleagues earn
- If your organisation employs over 250 people, ask your employer what they are doing to comply with new gender pay gap reporting rules, which require them to publish their gender pay gap from April 2018
- Write to Basingstoke MP Maria Miller or send her an email asking her what her and her party are doing to close the gender pay gap.
- Tweet something on Friday supporting #PayGapPledge
- Pencil in the 4th December and come to the Council Offices to hear the report back from Council Officers on the Gender Pay Gap.