Kevin Rowan column

Oct 31 2005 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal

Despite almost 30 years of equal pay legislation, it remains the case that women are still lower paid than men. This applies to women who do similar jobs to male workers, and it is also a factor of employment segregation, the fact that women are more concentrated in lower paid jobs than men, and also that women are much less likely to access training than male counterparts.

A survey run by PayWizard, which is a project of the TUC and Incomes Data Services (IDS), found that over one in four female employees were unhappy with their pay (28%), compared to one in five male workers (20%).

But although women were more likely to be fed up with what their boss is paying them, they were less likely to have raised the issue with their supervisor than the men in the office.

This reflects the sad fact that women are less likely to be in unions and more likely to be in workplaces that are not covered by collective bargaining arrangements.

Inequality in opportunity and pay at work feeds through directly to inequality in pensions. The stark facts are that while two thirds of pensioners are women, their median income is just 57% of men's; only 16% of women are entitled to a full basic State pension in their own right; one in four women pensioners live in poverty.

Low pay means women are much less likely to have contributed to a State pension and women are less likely to be in occupational pension schemes.

The Turner commission is due to report in about a month's time. If it is to have an impact upon the inequality women endure in retirement, it must have specific equality measures as part of its recommendations, enabling all individuals to accrue pensions in their own right; increase women's entitlement to the State pension and seek to close the gap between women and men in State, private and occupational pensions.

This is clearly a major challenge, especially while inequalities in the workplace are so prevalent. If we are to tackle pensioner poverty among women, we must deal much more effectively with inequality at work.

We should act now. All employers should carry out equal pay audits, the results could be very surprising, and then take steps to equalise pay and opportunity for women at work, including providing training opportunities and hours and organisation of work that doesn't discriminate against those with caring responsibilities.

And women should join a trade union as the best way of challenging the discrimination they face in the workplace. PayWizard was launched by the TUC and IDS at the beginning of the year. The website is www.paywizard.co.uk