by René Lavanchy
PRIVATE companies must publish the details of how much male and female employees earn in relation to each other, equality minister Harriet Harman said this week.
Her remarks are the strongest indication yet that the Government is prepared to force the private sector to narrow the gender pay gap, which Ms Harman said currently leaves women paid over 22 per cent less than men.
Under the Equality Bill, to be presented to Parliament this year, ministers will review how much businesses reveal about their pay practices over the next five years.
But a Government source insisted this week that introducing legally binding pay audits was a “stick in the closet” if they failed to comply.
The bill as it stands will only force public sector bodies to audit their rates of pay, despite the fact that the pay gap is bigger in the private sector.
Speaking to the Fabian Society’s new year conference, Ms Harman said: “We expect the private sector to move on that as well, that they publish their own pay gap to their employees and to their shareholders. It gives leverage”.
Compulsory pay audits for both the public and private sectors were a key part of her manifesto for the deputy leadership in 2007.
Asked why the pay gap had persisted during Labour’s years in power, Ms Harman added that men were still leaving too much housework and childcare to women.
“There’s also a question of fairness between men and women in the home. Until men play an equal part in bringing up children, women are always going to be perceived as less committed to their work”, she said.
According to figures from the Government’s equalities office, women in full-time work earn 12.6 per cent
less than men on average, rising to 40 per cent for part-time jobs.
Sarah Veale, the TUC’s head of equality and employment rights, called on ministers to put more pressure on businesses.
She said: “Mandatory pay audits are essential in the private sector in order to allow employees to tackle the gender pay gap in this country. That’s the only way you’ll really achieve transparency.”
The remarks come as a new report predicts that women will suffer a slight squeeze out of the jobs market relative to men over the next decade.
According to the Commission for Employment and Skills, 1.2 million men will take up jobs between now and 2017, compared to 750,000 women.
The report also said that the jobs market would grow despite the recession, creating two million jobs over the decade.
