Did you know that for every $1 earned by a man, a woman earns around 80 cents?
That’s a pretty big gap.
So what would happen to the economy if it was one for one?
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The MeToo movement has put gender inequality in the spotlight from London all the way to Hollywood,
and a lot of that inequality comes in the form of cold hard cash.
The gender pay gap is the difference in median earnings between a man and a woman.
It’s expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings. So if the gender pay gap is 20 percent,
that means a woman earns 80 cents for every one dollar earned by a man.
Okay, so how big of a gap are we talking about?
Well, it ranges around the world.
Korea, Estonia and Japan have some of the biggest gender pay gaps,
while Costa Rica, Luxembourg and Greece have the smallest gaps.
So why do women earn less than men?
There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle.
Let’s use some fictional characters here in the U.K. to try to put it together.
Meet Sally and James.
Let’s pretend they both start working in full-time jobs at the same age.
Research from the U.K. government shows Sally is likely to work in the caring, leisure
and service industries, or in an administrative or secretarial job.
James, meanwhile, is more likely to work in skilled trades or as a process, plant or machine operator.
These differences in occupations account for a big part of the pay gap.
But there’s another important factor, too.
Yep, motherhood.
Even though Sally and James start out making about the the same amount of money,
the pay gap really starts to widen in their mid-30s and 40s.
Sally might stop working or start working part-time for a while to raise a family,
and when she comes back to work full-time, she earns a lot less than her male counterparts.
Not to mention, it’s estimated women like Sally account for 75 percent of the world’s total unpaid work,
including crucial tasks to keep households running.
One thing to note is that even after looking at differences in occupations and work hours,
the U.K. government found that 64% of the gender pay gap couldn't be explained,
and some see this as evidence of discrimination in the workplace.
But regardless of the causes of the gender pay gap,
most experts agree leveling it out will have big-time economic benefits.
One study found that equal pay would cut the poverty rate of working women in half,
and produce an additional income of around $512 billion to the U.S. economy.
Another report found that if women in developing countries were paid as much as men,
they could earn an extra $2 trillion. That’s an 18% bump in pay.
Plus there are economic bonuses just from putting more women to work.
In 2017, just under half of working-age women participated in the labor market.
That's compared to 75% of men.
If as many women worked as men, the IMF estimates GDP would increase by
five percent in the U.S., nine percent in Japan, 12 percent in the UAE and 27 percent in India.
The IMF also found that bringing more women into the boardroom can directly boost a company’s bottom line.
Some countries haven’t been able to ignore these numbers.
As of 2017, the U.K. mandated that companies with more than 250 employees
report gender pay gaps in the workplace.
This year, Iceland enacted a first-of-its-kind law that forces companies to eliminate pay gaps.
Some companies are creating more flexible policies for women who want to work full-time and have children,
and for men to take paternity leave.
Agencies like the UN promote higher education and skills training to bring more women into the workforce.
These efforts look like steps in the right direction.
But research shows it will still take 100 years to close the global gender gap.
And for many people here, closing the gap isn't just a women’s issue, it's an economic issue, too.
Hey everyone, it’s Elizabeth.
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