Wives still earn lesser than their husbands across the globe says a new study. The global study examined data from 45 countries from 1973 to 2016 for the survey of intra-household gender inequality in wages. The researchers Professor Deepak Malghan and Hema Swaminathan, of the Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, used data from 2.85 million households. “Conventional poverty estimates look at the household as a unit,” Prof Swaminathan says. He adds, “The general assumption is that within a household, incomes are pooled and equally distributed. But the household is often a place of great inequality, and we wanted to unpack that.”
The report refers to the household as “a black box” because, Prof Swaminathan says, “We are not looking inside. But how would the picture change if we looked inside?” He added, “For instance, Nordic countries are held out as beacon of hope for gender equality, but what is it like there? Is the distribution of work-and wealth within homes-equal?” The researchers ranked countries on Intra-household inequality and overall inequality. According to the results, gender inequality prevails in rich and poor households, over time and across countries.
Prof Malghan says, “The most recent wave of data suggests that when both members of the couple are employed, there is not a single country, not even in the richest or most developed parts, where wives earn as much as their husbands. Even in the Nordic countries, which have the lowest levels of gender inequality in the world, we found the women’s share is less than 50 per cent everywhere.”
The gender pay gap:
For ages, men are seen as breadwinners while women are considered homemakers. The unequal pay and unpaid housework remain largely a woman’s responsibility. The report said that unpaid care work was “The main barrier preventing women from getting into, remaining and progressing in the labour force.” Prof Swaminathan says, “The wife’s contribution as a homemaker is invisible, while cash is visible. So a wife earning a salary, bringing in hard cash into the family kitty enjoys a certain status. It enhances her agency and gives her a voice within the household. Increased earnings increase her negotiation powers, give her a bargaining tool, even help her exit an abusive situation by giving her a fallback option.”
The discrepancy also impacts long-term financial security as women have lower savings and wealth accumulation and access to reduced incomes in old age since pension policies are tied to earnings, says Prof Malghan. “Across most parts of the world, economic development and growth has happened and women’s participation in labour force has increased. In many parts of the world, more women-friendly policies have narrowed the gap. There have been movements for equal pay for equal work. All this has led to a shrinking of the gap.” She added that despite the decline, current levels are still significant and the gap must be closed further.
What women can do?
“Unless they demonstrate through their actions that they are in charge of their money, they will not be taken seriously, “said Mrin Agarwal, financial educator, founder director of Finsafe India Pvt. Ltd and co-founder of Womantra. “While it is difficult to generalize the actual impact on the fight for equal pay can have on a woman’s life, it has to be a fight based on meritocracy and not merely on gender parity,” says Rituparna Chakraborty, executive vice-president and co-founder, Teamlease Sevices Pvt. Ltd.
A small push back to unequal pay will be if women actually take charge of their money. Organisations should have policies that address women’s issues. Major barriers are not just in the professional journey but also milestones such as marriage, maternity, child rearing and other family responsibilities which forces them to take a break from their work. The organisations have to be empathetic and realise the fact that women are equally competent than men.
Women also have to feel the importance of money as it is to a man, irrespective of what stage she is in her life. Working with a financial planner and taking the financial decisions herself can help a lot. She has to define her money goals and investments objectives. “If you are married, manage your expenses jointly with your spouse and participate in the financial decisions such as taking loans, making investments and even tracking the progress of your investments,” said Vishal Dhawan, certified financial planner and founder, Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors. He added, “If your spouse earns more than you, ask him to contribute more while you pitch in as much as your salary allows you to.”
Most importantly, one has to have an unbiased outlook and make men realise that they must focus on home and work equally. This will change the way a woman is perceived in the professional space. “Collective bargaining geared towards the removal of the discriminatory portion of the gender pay gap has huge potential to reduce gender pay inequalities,” said Chakraborty.
