The PwC Women in Work Index 2024 provides a comprehensive analysis of gender equality in the workplace across 33 OECD countries, with a particular focus on the UK.
The report highlights both progress and ongoing challenges in achieving gender parity in employment and pay.
Global overview
The report reveals that the average gender pay gap across OECD countries widened from 13.2% in 2021 to 13.5% in 2022. This indicates a slowdown in progress towards closing the pay disparity between men and women. Notably, 20 out of the 33 countries assessed experienced an increase in their gender pay gaps during this period.
Top performers
Luxembourg leads the Index, followed by Iceland and Slovenia. Luxembourg’s strong performance is attributed to improvements across all five indicators of the Index, including a notable gender pay gap of -0.2%, indicating that, on average, women earn slightly more than men.
United Kingdom’s performance
The UK experienced the largest annual decline in the Index, dropping from 13th to 17th place between 2021 and 2022. This decline occurred despite a 1.1-point increase in the UK’s Index score, suggesting that other countries are advancing more rapidly in promoting gender equality at work. A significant factor contributing to the UK’s decline is the widening gender pay gap, which increased from 14.3% in 2021 to 14.5% in 2022. This gap is higher than the OECD average of 13.5%, indicating that the UK is lagging behind many of its peers in addressing pay disparities.
Regional insights within the UK
Within the UK, Scotland emerged as the top-performing region, moving up two places to rank first among the UK’s nations and regions. This improvement was driven by an increase in the female labour force participation rate and a decrease in the female unemployment rate. Conversely, the East Midlands experienced the largest annual drop, falling six places to 11th position. Both the East and West Midlands have gender pay gaps higher than the national average, highlighting regional disparities in gender equality at work.
The gender pay penalty
The report introduces the concept of the ‘gender pay penalty,’ which refers to the pay disparity that remains even after accounting for factors such as qualifications, industry and occupational grade. In the UK, women earn, on average, 90p for every £1 earned by an equally qualified man with a similar personal and professional background. This suggests that biases and structural inequalities continue to influence pay differences.
Intersectional analysis
The analysis also explores how the gender pay penalty varies across different demographics. For instance, the pay penalty faced by women more than doubles from the early stages of their careers (ages 16-30) to the later stages (ages 46-65). This trend is likely driven by factors such as increased unpaid care responsibilities and health-related challenges, including menopause. Additionally, ethnicity plays a significant role in pay disparities. The report finds that Bangladeshi women face the largest pay penalty relative to White men, earning significantly less even when accounting for similar qualifications and experience.
Conclusion
The PwC Women in Work Index 2024 underscores the need for sustained and targeted efforts to address gender disparities in the workplace. While some regions and countries have made notable progress, the overall widening of the gender pay gap and the UK’s decline in the rankings highlight the challenges that remain. Addressing structural inequalities and biases is essential to achieving true gender parity in the workplace.
