International Equal Pay Day
International Equal Pay Day
The United Nations General Assemby proclaimed the International Equal Pay Day by the Resolution A/RES/74/142 The International Equal Pay Day, celebrated for the first time this 18 September, represents the longstanding efforts towards the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value. It further builds on the United Nations commitment to human rights and against all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls. Across all regions, women are paid less than men, with the gender pay gap estimated at 23 per cent globally. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls continues to be held back owing to the persistence of historical and structural unequal power relations between women and men, poverty and inequalities and disadvantages in access to resources and opportunities that limit women’s and girls’ capabilities. Progress on narrowing that gap has been slow. While equal pay for men and women has been widely endorsed, applying it in practice has been difficult. In order to ensure that no one is left behind, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the need to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Furthermore, the SDGs promote decent work and economic growth by seeking full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value. Mainstreaming of a gender perspective is crucial in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Achieving equal pay is an important milestone for human rights and gender equality. It takes the effort of the entire world community and more work remains to be done.
Forum: International Equal Pay Day 2020 '' Building back a better future of work by ensuring pay equity''.
On the occasion of the first International Equal Pay Day, and in the midst of the fallout from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) will host a virtual global Call to Action to encourage all labour market actors to take the necessary steps to ensure that equal pay is at the heart of recovery efforts worldwide. The live event takes place on 18 September at 9 am EDT. Register here.
The Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) is led by the ILO, UN Women, and partners. The Coalition’s goal is to achieve equal pay for women and men everywhere. By bringing together a diverse set of actors with different areas of focus and expertise, EPIC supports governments, employers, workers, and their organizations to make concrete and coordinated progress towards this goal. EPIC is currently the only multi-stakeholder partnership working to reduce the gender pay gap at the global, regional and national levels.
Moderated by Nozipho Tshabalala.
Panelists:
- Thorsteinn Viglundsoon former minister of social affairs and equality, Iceland
- Megan Rapinoe, Captain of US National Women's Soccer team
- Samira Ahmed, BBC journalist
- Kristin Skogen Lund, CEO of Schibsted ASA Norway
- Iris Bohnet, Harvard Kennedy School Professor and Academic Dean
- Nadia Soubat, Executive Bureau Member from CDT Morocco
Remarks by the EPIC Secretariat:
- Guy Ryder, Director General, ILO
- Angel Gurría, Secretary-General, OECD
- Asa Regner, Deputy Executive Director, UN Women
- Sylvie Durrer, Swiss representative and Chair of EPIC
Join the conversation by using #EqualPayDay and follow us on Twitter at @epic2030.
Statement by the United Nations Secretary-General on International Equal Pay Day; September 18th.
Around the world, despite decades of activism, and dozens of laws on equal pay, women still earn less than 80 cents for every dollar men do. For women with children, women of colour, women refugees and migrants, and women with disabilities, that figure is even lower.
If you had told me this forty years ago, I would have been shocked. But according to the World Economic Forum, it will take 257 years to close this gap.
The early signs are that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will make the gender pay gap even wider – partly because so many women work in service industries, hospitality and the informal sector which have been hardest hit.
Women’s unequal status at work feeds inequality in other areas of their lives. Women’s jobs are less likely to come with benefits like health insurance and paid time off. Even when women are entitled to a pension, lower salaries mean lower payments in their old age.
Equal pay laws have failed to put this right. We need to go deeper and work harder to find solutions.
Raising the profile of the gender pay gap is an important step. So I welcome this first International Equal Pay Day, and I congratulate everyone who has made it happen.
We need to ask why women are relegated to lower-paid work; why professions that are female-dominated have lower salaries – including jobs in the care sector; why so many women work part-time; why women see their wages decrease with motherhood while men with children often enjoy a salary boost; and why women hit a ceiling in higher-earning professions.
Some of the solutions lie in ending harmful gender stereotypes; removing institutional barriers; and sharing family responsibilities equally. We need to recognize, redistribute, and value the unpaid care work that is disproportionately done by women.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exploited and exposed inequalities of all kinds, including gender inequality. As we invest in recovery, we must take the opportunity to end pay discrimination against women.
Equal pay is essential not only for women, but to build a world of dignity and justice for all.
António Guterres
On average women are paid around 20% less than men across the world per month. No country has achieved gender parity in pay as yet. This video, developed by the Equal Pay International Coalition, draws attention towards persistent gender pay gap and presents some of the ways it can be tackled in order to achieve equal pay for the work of equal value, as envisioned in the sustainable Development Goals.
WEBINARS: