Women’s Day: Pay Parity is a joke. The reality is shocking

The idea of celebrating the International Women’s Day is not only about sending greeting, flowers, cards, gifts or taking women out for dinners. It is more than that.

Women, whenever given a chance or the slightest motivation, have always proven their mettle in various fields. In male-dominated sectors also, women have shouldered all responsibilities and have outpaced men too.

Despite possessing the required talent, skills, leadership qualities, multi-talented approach, etc, there is a gap that still persists in majority of the companies and sectors-pay parity.

The theme for International Women’s Day 2016 is ‘Pledge for Parity’, which also calls for equal status when it comes to salaries.

However, the pay parity is only growing even in the 21st century. In the tech sector too, the difference is glaring.

Shachi Irde, Executive Director, Catalyst India WRC, said, “As per Catalyst research, women and men in India’s technology sector start off their careers with equal pay, responsibilities and aspirations. However, a pay gap emerges over time; women employees earn Rs 3.8 lakh less than men by the time they have completed 12 years in their careers.”

This means, if a man is earning Rs 5 lakh (12 years into his career); a woman who started off at the same time as him, at the same level, ends up earning Rs 1.2 lakh.

The reasons for this gap can be attributed to an unconscious bias, less opportunities, management, etc.

“One of the major reasons for this gap to emerge is that women are not given the right opportunities. It starts with the difference between job roles and responsibilities assigned to women and men as they move ahead in their profession. It is observed that women tend to get more support roles while men are given roles which have higher visibility and greater impact on business. This enables men employees to advance faster,” said Irde.

So how long do we need to bridge this gap? As per the Global Gender Gap Report 2015 by the World Economic Forum, at the rate at which the gender gap is closing, it wouldn’t completely be bridged until 2133.

Here is an Infograph on the huge pay difference between men and women: