How well does wage transparency really work in the fight against inequality?

Patrizia Laeri (45) made headlines with the announcement of her wages – and above all for making progress in the fight against gender pay inequality, wage disparity between men and women, according to her own statements. At least that’s why Laeri posted this week on her LinkedIn job portal that she paid 8,000 francs a month net last year.

Laeri gets a lot of approval for this. However, their logic has two catches. First, Laeri is a self-employed entrepreneur, so she decides for herself how much to pay. Therefore, the number is less meaningful than it is for employees.

However, on Laeri’s Elle XX platform, other women, including working women, disclose their wages. For example, a priest records that he earns 120,000 francs a year. 75,000 francs for an architect.

Bonuses remain hidden

The more important shortcoming in Laeri’s reasoning is not the employment relationship, but the latter: it is far from sufficient with wage transparency alone. “Variable pay components play a decisive role in the gender pay gap,” explains Helena Trachsel (64), Head of the Equal Opportunities Office in the Canton of Zurich. This includes bonuses. And they are almost never made transparent.

Trachsel praises that pay transparency helps to perpetuate the debate about the gender pay gap. “But the transparency of fees alone does not help to eliminate disparities.”

It is more important to address the underlying causes of pay inequality – for example, women still do most of the unpaid care work. “There’s a kind of marriage penalty when it comes to pay,” criticizes Helena Trachsel. “Single women earn almost the same as men. But when you become a mother, the pay gap starts.”

One of three puzzle pieces

Because women continue to take care of their families more often than men on average, they work more often in lower part-time jobs – and often stay on the sidelines in their careers, missing every payroll round.

“Wage analyzes are part of the puzzle,” Trachsel sums up. “A more equitable distribution of maintenance work and aligning workloads are the second and third pieces of the puzzle.” Helena Trachsel claims this requires nationwide – and affordable – childcare offers.

The good news: The current shortage of skilled workers offers women unprecedented opportunities in the job market. In fact, some labor market experts predict that gender inequality may be a thing of the past in just a few years. If women discover injustice through greater pay transparency, they now have the upper hand.

Source :Blick