As of: March 6, 2024, 6:40 a.m
By: Jana Stabener
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In 2023, the wage gap between women and men has not narrowed.
The equal opportunities officer Ferda Ataman has a guess as to why.
The gender pay gap, i.e. the wage gap between women and men, will be 18 percent on average in 2023, the Federal Statistical Office announced one day before Equal Pay Day on March 6, 2024.
So it has not decreased compared to 2022.
Much of this wage gap is due to the fact that women are more likely to work in lower-paying jobs (for example, women are more likely to work as educators than in the IT industry) and are more likely than men to work part-time.
There is no clear explanation for the remaining third of the difference of around six percent (adjusted gender pay gap).
In addition to the fact that there is too little wage transparency in Germany, Kununu CEO Nina Zimmermann finds it at
BuzzFeed News Germany
, a portal from
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
“The rule in Germany is still that people don’t talk about salaries,” says Zimmermann.
“We have to break this spiral of silence.
In order to combat the gender pay gap, wage differences and grievances must be made visible as a first step.” This requires internal salary bands (= a type of collective agreement that regulates salaries in a certain area of the company).
“We believe that German companies still have some catching up to do here,” says Zimmermann.
The pay transparency law “does nothing for most women,” says equal opportunities officer Ferda Ataman.
© Westend61/IMAGO
Salary transparency in German companies is “moderate”
In order to ensure salary transparency and overcome the gender pay gap, politicians passed the Pay Transparency Act in 2017.
It created a “learning effect,” says social scientist Helge Emmler from the Hans Böckler Foundation
BuzzFeed News Germany
.
Especially between 2018 and 2021, more and more people made use of their right to information and requested information about their colleagues' salaries.
Today he rates salary transparency in German companies as “moderate”.
“Awareness of the equal pay requirement has decreased among employees and only a third of companies with more than 500 employees check their pay for inequality - even though they are required to do so by law,” he says.
With a view to the current gender pay gap, “it cannot be assumed that significant progress has been made since the Pay Transparency Act came into force”.
Pay Transparency Act
The new Pay Transparency Act, which came into force in 2017, is intended to reduce pay differences between women and men.
Since then, employees have the right to find out the salary of their colleagues of the opposite sex in the same position.
The law also obliges employers to carry out operational audit procedures and to report on equality and equal pay.
Read more: According to a new analysis, many young men do not see women in leadership positions
Hurdles in the implementation of the Pay Transparency Act
Zimmermann sees the reason for this in the “hurdles in implementing the Pay Transparency Act”.
In addition to the still low level of awareness, the requirements for a claim to information are also too high.
It only exists for employees at companies with more than 200 employees.
In addition, it can only be claimed if at least six people of the opposite sex carry out the same or equivalent work.
“Unfortunately, due to these requirements, many women who work in small and medium-sized companies no longer have the right to information,” criticizes the Kununu boss.
“The high hurdles for requests for information must be lowered,” says Emmler.
He demands that the testing should not only involve simple median comparisons, but also “certified testing tools.”
“Otherwise it is very difficult – even with good will on all sides – to recognize discrimination as such.” If awareness of the law continues to be “slow,” politicians will also have to consider sanctions.
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More on the topic: Gender Pay Gap: Things go downhill for women after 30
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Pay Transparency Act: “Coalition could have done so much more for women”
“Women receive little support from the legislature after such a request,” criticizes Zimmermann.
“If it turns out that the median salary of your colleagues is higher than your own, nothing happens.
Employees have to sue their employer within certain deadlines, which means they need legal advice.” This is also another hurdle.
“We do have a pay transparency law, but that doesn’t help most women,” says the Independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination, Ferda Ataman, to
BuzzFeed News Germany.
“
Who dares to sue an employer or company alone and at full risk?
If strong associations could support them, that would be a great help,” she says.
“We therefore need a right of collective action in the Pay Transparency Act – as announced by the coalition, but unfortunately still not implemented.
This coalition could have done so much more for women – unfortunately equal rights don’t seem to be a priority for half the population,” says Ataman.
More on the topic: The gender pay gap increases with more professional experience
(With material from dpa)