Context:
- Iceland becomes the first country to make more pay for men than women illegal. Now, according to their law, both men and women will earn the same amount of money for the same job. The law came into effect from January 1, 2018.
Policy
- Under the new policy, any company with at least or more than 25 employees have to get the government certification of their equal-pay policies. The companies that fail to prove equal pay may face fines.
- “The legislation is basically a mechanism that companies and organisations … evaluate every job that’s being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they are paying men and women equally,” said Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Wage gap and Iceland
- According to the World Economic Forum, the top five best performers in the global gender gap are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Rwanda and Sweden. The World Economic Forum also ranked Iceland as the most gender equal country for the last nine years.
- Since 2016, Iceland has closed almost 10% of its wage gap making it one of the fastest-improving countries in the world when it comes to gender equity.
The Logical Indian Take
- A 2015 report by McKinsey Global Institute explains how eliminating the wage gap can add between $12 trillion and $28 trillion to global GDP.
- If women are not getting paid enough, they lose the little they have in loans and the money needed to run the house. That is a lot of money which the economy isn’t getting back.
- As long as the wage gap persists, eradicating poverty will also remain a dream.
- Some researchers say that women are more productive and dedicated workers. For them to show the world that they are equally worthy as their male counterparts, they work harder, fight harder.
- Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that the pay gap holds women back. It doesn’t exist because women aren’t educated enough; in fact, there are more female college graduates now than ever before. “It is about structural barriers we need to dismantle.
- Source:The Logical India