On November 15, 12 EU countries celebrated Equal Pay Day. “Everyone benefits, when all are equal”. Unfortunately, according to the European Commission, the gender pay gap in the EU is still standing at 13%. What does it mean?
In the EU, women are hourly paid 13.0% less than men on average. This equals one and an half months of salary. This is why in 2022 the European Commission marks 15 November as a symbolic day to raise awareness that female workers in Europe still earn on average less than their male colleagues (this symbolic date is not necessarily the same every year, as it is calculated on the basis of the gender pay gap figures).
European Comission
European Commission explains that for every €1 a man earns, a woman will make €0.87. Progress is steady, however still too slow, with a 2.8 percentage point gap reduction in 10 years.
The gender pay gap is a symptom of more structural imbalances between men and women in economic representations, access to education, and household care responsibilities. Women are still
underrepresented, and undervalued in positions of economic decision-making. A large majority of scientists, engineers, and skilled technical workers are men. Women disproportionately bear the duties of household and childcare with 90% of the formal care workforce made up of women, and 7.7 million women out of employment because of care responsibilities.
In 2020, Poland’s average gender pay gap was 4.5%, making our country the 5th in the classification of the 27 EU countries.