#IWD2018: Still more work to be done

#IWD2018: Still more work to be done

International Women’s Day has become a permanent global fixture, having been celebrated since the early 1990s.

But what exactly does it stand for? 

At its core is an ambitious pledge to achieve gender equality for women around the world. It has also come to symbolise female unity, a day when governments, women’s organisations, corporations and charities mobilising under the #PressforProgress banner through talks, rallies, networking events, conferences and marches. This year, International Women’s Day could not be more salient. 

The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report found that gender parity is over 200 years away.

In the UK, the introduction of Gender Pay Gap legislation, under which companies with 250 employees or more must publish their data by April 2018, has unleashed a stream of headlines highlighting inequality. At Portland, we are proud to have worked with the Government Equalities Office (GEO) to raise awareness of Gender Pay Gap reporting. 

So far, it is clear that men dominate top pay bands at most companies, with the worst offenders registering a gap of over 47 per cent. Which is no surprise considering women make up fewer than 30 per cent of the FTSE-100 executive boards. Women On Boards UK have said the average Gender Pay Gap in the City was about 60 per cent but in some institutions it was expected to be above 100 per cent.

And the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found men, across the UK, earned 18.4% more than women in April 2017. While the Bank of England’s wage rate for men is 24% higher than its female employees.

So while there is much to celebrate, there is also much more work to be done.

If you have any questions on Gender Pay Gap reporting, contact us on [email protected]

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