New Research Shows a Gender Pay Gap
New research in the UK shows that despite an increase in the number of women on the board of directors of companies in recent years, female executives in the UK’s largest financial services companies earn on average 66% less than their male counterparts. The study found that women board members earned an average of £247,100 a year in 2020, while their male counterparts earned £722,300. This study was conducted by the partnership law firm Fox & Partners. The firm published its results after surveying 350 financial companies in the UK. According to the Hampton-Alexander Review, in the last five years the number of women board members in these 350 companies has increased by 50% to reach 1,026 in 2020, but the income gap between men and women is still significant. The need for companies to report gender pay gaps among their employees has been halted by the coronavirus pandemic; men have earned an average of 15.5% more than women in the UK in 2020, down from 17.4% in 2019, according to official figures.
British Women Worried About Return of the 70s Gender Inequality
New polls show that half of British women are worried about a return to the gender inequality of the 1970s as a result of the pandemic. One year after the outbreak, women are more exposed to temporary leave, job losses, responsibility for children studying at home, and working from home; they are increasingly worried about their future, and about half of the women surveyed in the Mumsnet poll indicated that they expect gender inequality to regress to the 1970s way of living within the next few years. With the reopening of schools in the UK, the survey showed that 70% of women have borne the brunt of holiday breaks by studying at home . Three-quarters of women said that during the quarantine, their husbands were able to get a job without any problems; one in five British mothers said they had to reduce their working hours to take care of the growing needs of their children, and over a third said they were professionally injured, while their spouses were not. Inequality in the workplace is one of the problems for women who are paid less than men for doing equal work.
Multiple Discriminations Against British Women Has Made them Miserable
According to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the UK, there is a large number of women in prison with very few facilities and numerous problems in terms of health and welfare services. The UK acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2008. The prevalence of domestic and sexual violence against women, trafficking in girls, occupational exploitation and the gender pay gap is high. According to recent statistics, the average income of a working woman is 83% that of the income of a man in the UK, and immigrant women suffer from multiple discriminations, including lack of access to education, employment and healthcare. Immigrant women have the highest maternal mortality rate. Depression and mental illness among British women is also on the rise.
Sexual Harassment of Women in the Workplace and the Government’s Indifference to this Tragedy
The UK is one of the countries where working and educated women refuse to disclose the names of their abusers. According to surveys, 80% of working women in the UK are reluctant to report sexual harassment in the workplace. These women never speak out for fear of losing their jobs and are afraid of the consequences of their words. Many abusers are in the upper echelons of management. These problems have deprived British women of peace in the workplace. Many working and educated women face this problem. A survey shows that more than half of British women have been harassed, including assaults, while at work or at school. According to the survey, more than half of working women have been exposed to harassment, assaults and unwelcome comments in the workplace by their male co-workers and employers. Researchers at the Trades Union Congress and the Everyday Sexism Project say 52% of British women have experienced unwelcome behaviour by their co-workers and employers, including jokes, comments, and sexual harassment. This figure is higher among girls and women aged 16 to 24 and reaches 63%.
British women have protested against the many forms of discrimination against them in society and for years have staged demonstrations and campaigns against gender discrimination and inequality between men and women. Participants in the “Women’s March” protest chanted slogans such as “End injustice” and “The era of gender inequality is over.” But what is certain is that the Boris Johnson govenment has no will to end this discrimination which is on the rise. Women demand their right to safety and security in society and want equal rights with men. This is an issue that the government does not pay attention to and has not yet offered a solution to. This has led to increased dissatisfaction and protests over the government’s poor performance.
