US labor secretary says he wants more women to be CEOs and board members so the gender pay gap can immediately close
- Marty Walsh, the labor secretary, said at the WEF the US needs more women as CEOs and board members.
- Having women in these positions could close the gender pay gap, he said.
Marty Walsh, the US labor secretary, on Tuesday said he wanted to see more women become CEOs and board members so that the gender pay gap can be closed.
During a round table discussion at the 2023 World Economic Forum in Davos, Walsh spoke to the media about recession, wages, and inequity in the workforce.
Insider's Cadie Thompson asked Walsh about how companies should address the difference in earnings between genders after many women dropped out of the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Companies shouldn't have to pass legislation to realize there's an inequity pay gap in the United States of America," Walsh replied.
Walsh said the US needed to have more women CEOs and board members. They would be able to focus on the imbalance of wages and "close that gap immediately," he said during the discussion.
The WEF estimated in its Global Gender Gap Report, published in July, that it would take 132 years to close the gender gap. This was compared with 2021 when the WEF predicted it would take 136 years.
Many factors can contribute to the gender wage gap, including unconscious bias, age, and racial discrimination, Insider's Melanie Lockert reported.
"The bottom line is that a woman should be paid the same as a man doing the same job," Walsh said.
Businesses need to understand that they need to close the pay gap, he said. "This isn't over time, this isn't a business model, this needs to happen."
The WEF said in its July report that the global gender gap had been closed by around 68%.