Indian women earn 19 per cent less than men, a survey said.
Women in India earn 19% less than men, reflecting the high gender pay gap in the country, according to the latest Monster Salary Index survey released on Thursday. The gap has narrowed merely by 1% in 2018 from 20% a year ago.
The latest data from the online career and recruitment solutions provider indicates that the current gender pay gap in India stands at 19%, where men (Rs 242.49) earned Rs 46.19 more in comparison to women (Rs 196.3).
“The narrowing of the gender pay gap by just one percent is not just a cause for concern, but a reminder to genuinely introspect if we are doing enough,” said Abhijeet Mukherjee, chief executive officer, Monster.com, APAC & Gulf. “It becomes pivotal to galvanize forces across corporates and industries to work towards gender pay parity,” he added.
The data shows gender pay difference widening with higher skill level – while there is no gender pay gap in semi-skilled work, the gap touches 20% for skilled women and 30% for highly skilled occupations. The gap increases with experience and is highest at 15% in favour of men for talent with 10 and more years of experience, showed the MSI index.
This index is complemented with the key findings from the third annual survey titled ‘Women of India Inc’ undertaken by Monster.com. Nearly 60% working women in India surveyed feel discrimination at work and over one-third of the women feel that they are not easily considered for top management roles, showed the survey. About 71% men and 66% women feel that gender parity needs to be a top priority for their organisations, showed the survey that was conducted on Monster India’s database capturing responses from over 3000 working women and men. The survey witnessed maximum share of participation from Mumbai at (24%), followed by Bengaluru (23%) and Delhi/NCR at (18%). The participation from non-metros was only at about 29%.
The survey findings show that about 70% men are sure or nearly convinced that movements like #MeToo add to the cause of women empowerment; though about one-fourth women feel such movements aren’t enough to shift imbalances. Nearly 86% women consider safety as key parameter while choosing a job, close to 50% women either find night shift unsafe or not a preferable option, considering 40% women respondents are from the IT/ITES industry.
Sectoral analysis of the gender pay gap (GPG) showed that wage inequalities in favour of men are present in all the relevant sectors including IT/ITES services (26%); manufacturing (24%); healthcare, caring services and social work (21%). Financial services, banking and insurance is the only industry where men earn just 2% more.
The ‘Women of India Inc’ survey, which showed that women feel stark discrimination at work, found that the most notable form of discrimination is perception that women are less serious about work once they are married (47%). About 46% women feel that maternity leads to a perception that they will quit. About 46% women also believe that there is a notion that women can’t put the same number of hours as men.
In terms of the reasons to work, more than half of the women respondents are driven by the desire to work, rather than a need. Collectively, over 50% women say their main reason to work is- personal fulfilment (17%) and inclination to contribute to family income (33%).
Majority of the respondents at 68% (which includes both women and men), feel that gender parity needs to be a top priority for their organisations. However, over one-third of the working women feel that even if it is the top priority for the senior management, they do not walk the talk.
As high as 72% men feel that both men and women should receive equal opportunities at the workplace. Over one-third men also feel that organisations should put more efforts towards gender diversity. Collectively, about 66% of the men feel that gender diversity will primarily lead to a healthy work culture and contribution from an eclectic bunch will bring diverse knowledge.
Article Credit: ET