Gender wage pay gap: Women graduate in India earns 24% less than her male counterpart

• Women earn about 30% less than their male counterparts.
  
• Overall, women in India make 67% less than the men.
  
• India ranks 108th on the gender equality ranking by the World Economic Forum.

Gender equality is not a reality in India. While sincere attempts to make it so are in the ‘pipeline’ the present truth is - women in India are not considered ‘equals’ - either socially or economically.

And here are some figures to highlight the economical part. According to a recent government report, men in India are earning almost about 30% more than the women, even if they have the same educational qualifications.

According to The Global Wage Report of 2016-17 published by the International Labour Organization in 2016, the gender wage gap in India is at 30%, which is among the highest in the world. It’s 2018, and the situation does not seem to have improved too much.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) report states that a graduate woman earns nearly about 24% less than their male counterparts. A graduate man earns about ₹805 per day on an average, while a woman earns about ₹609 per day, on an average.

The fact that education helps, shows in the fact that a graduate woman earns 5.8 times more than an illiterate woman and graduate men earn about 3.6 times more than illiterate men. Women in urban areas earn about ₹690.68 per day which is 7.7 times more than ₹88.2 women in rural areas earn per day.

Women in rural areas earn the highest from construction while men are paid the highest in the mining and quarry sector.

In urban areas, women are paid the highest in the public sectors like electricity, gas and water utility, according to the data.

But then, as a counter to the gender wage gap, there are some sectors where women are paid more than the men. These sectors include transportation and construction in rural areas and transport and storage in urban areas. Transport and storage pays Rs 11 more to women than men on an average.

Overall, women in India earn about 67% less than the men. According to the advisory from Accenture, it will take more than 100 years to close this gender wage gap.

A report published by advisory firm Korn Ferry Hay Group states that women working at high management posts in India are paid about 18% less than men. And this number has to do with the fact that there aren’t that many women in senior managerial roles across industries.

In the gender equality ranking by the World Economic Forum India stood at 108, which is behind Bangladesh at 47 and China at 100. India in 2013 had the lowest rate of female employment among its neighbouring countries after Pakistan.

We have said in an earlier piece that “India would be US$550 billion richer if it just increased its share of women in the labour force by 10%”, so it is most definitely time to shake things up - for good.