THE FAWCETT SOCIETY, a charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights at work, at home and in public life, has confirmed that Equal Pay Day 2021 will fall on Thursday 18 November.
Equal Pay Day marks the day in the year where women effectively, on average, stop earning relative to men because of the gender pay gap.
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women within a particular group or population. Fawcett uses the mean, full-time, hourly gender pay gap for the UK to calculate the gender pay gap for Equal Pay Day which this year is 11.9 per cent, an increase from 10.6 per cent last year.
An increase in the gender pay gap can be seen for women in this year’s data, from the ONS Gender Pay Gap in the UK 2021, with younger women facing a rising gender pay gap.
Felicia Willow, Interim CEO of the Fawcett Society, said: “The covid pandemic has made collecting the gender pay gap data difficult and is likely to have had an impact on inequality in the labour market itself. We will need to wait until furlough, data collection and other issues have ended before we can be certain of what has happened.
“Our recent research has shown the severe impacts of the pandemic on younger women particularly, both on the sectors they work in and on their mental health. Today’s data suggest the pay gap for them may be rising, and that action is needed to stop this turning into a long-term increase in the gender pay gap.
“Whilst gender pay gap reporting has been effective in getting big employers to act, it needs to go much further – we want to see Government requiring mandatory action plans from employers to tackle gender pay gap in the workforce, as well as sharing data.The pandemic has had a tough and disproportionate impact on women, in particular women of colour, disabled women and mothers. And now in addition to this, a widening gender pay gap paints a worrying picture. The Government needs to take bold action, from improving childcare provision, making flexible working available to everyone, and tackling the rising cost of living.”
* More information on Equal Pay Day 2021 here.
* Source: The Fawcett Society