Because of the gender pay gap, today is the day that women start working for free. From now until the end of the year our women workers are effectively working for nothing, when compared to their male counterparts.
The bonuses paid to women and men are also very different, with men being paid almost double that of the average woman manager.
Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party leader said, “From the pages of our passports, to the faces on our banknotes, women are not treated as equals. In fact the matter is getting worse as we see the number of women in boardrooms and politics decline.
“More than 40% of women working part-time in Wales are paid less than the living wage, which to my mind is intolerable. Women are bearing the brunt of in-work poverty, and the Conservative cuts to tax credits will reduce the income of many even more. The time has come for positive action.”
Dwyfor Meironnydd has the highest proportion of low-paid female part-time workers in the whole of the UK, with as many as 79% not earning the Living Wage of £7.85 an hour. Alyn and Deeside (71.4%) and Gower (58.7%) are the next worst affected areas in Wales.
An entire generation has now worked its way through from school leaver to retirement since the first equal pay legislation came into effect in 1970, yet the gender pay gap persists
Bartolotti added “When a full time working woman is valued in 2015 at only 67p for every £1 that a man earns, something is very wrong with the way we value each other.
“Greens in Wales have consistently led the way in politics. Our first female leader was elected in 2005, our second in 2007 and our third in 2011.
“Women are not morally, intellectually, or physically inferior to men. The levels of gender discrimination we see in the workplace today are holding this country back. We need balanced representation at every level of society. For over a thousand years there has been positive discrimination in favour of men, it is now time to turn the tables."
Notes: The Chartered Management Institute says women working in equivalent full-time roles in Wales earn 13% less than men. In Wales the gender pay gap now stands at £3,188. This is compared to a national gender pay gap of 22%. The average man’s bonus of £4,898 is almost that of the average woman’s bonus of £2,531.