Strategic Pay’s white paper explores the key contributors to gender pay gap.
Technology has continuously impacted our lives over the last few years. This became more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as how we work totally changed. Automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics are already changing the nature of our work and will continue to do so. Technology will also change how work is organized and how we work in the future. Having said that, one question lingers: will technology enable future workplaces where no form of gender pay gap or inequity in employment exists?
Also read: IBM Study Reveals Why Gender Equality Is Diminishing Despite D&I Initiatives
Occupation and Vertical Segregation — Key Contributors to Gender Inequity
According to a white paper by Strategic PayOpens a new window , a New Zealand-based company that provides strategic remuneration and performance solutions, the COVID-19 pandemic presented organizations with a few challenges and highlighted few issues. According to the company’s Pay Equity reportOpens a new window in 2020, the key contributor to the gender pay gap was occupational and vertical segregation, i.e., where and what level women are employed. Women may be employed in sectors, such as healthcare and accommodation, where they could make significant employment gains relative to men. However, their roles also make a difference.
For example, 85% of the healthcare workforce in New Zealand is made up of women. However, they are clustered in roles, such as front-line and essential workers, which are often lower paid.
The following graph gives an idea.
Lower wages for women
Source: Strategic PayOpens a new window
Hence, even if women are employed in sectors where job growth is possible, gender inequity may not decline if women remain in lower-paying roles. Further, the growth in these sectors may magnify the pay gap.
Another strong observation made was the gendered approach toward industries being considered essential and non-essential during the height of the pandemic. This was especially true in New Zealand. In the highest alert levels, hairdressers, beauticians, domestic cleaners, and other sectors in the personal care industry, dominated by women, were not allowed. This was primarily because these services involved face-to-face or personal contact, and hence, were considered to have a higher risk of spreading the virus. However, construction workers, telecom technicians, and street repairers — dominated by men, were deemed essential and allowed to return to work first. Moreover, 90% of the 11,000 New ZealandersOpens a new window who lost their jobs due to the pandemic last year were women.
Lack of flexible working options also contributed to employment inequity and the gender pay gap for a long time. This was primarily because it meant that women employees had to make a trade-off between their careers and caring responsibilities.
Also read: How Bad Gender Disparity in Global Workforce Actually Is, Latest Study Reveals
Can Technology Change Workplace Dynamics?
The pandemic has, however, also provided organizations with examples and solutions of how technology can help them respond to pandemic-like events and how it can improve gender equity at work.
Over the last few years, automation, and digitization of work functions compelled organizations to consider different ways of working. The pandemic further forced them to reconsider how they worked. People were forced to work from home or remote locations. Fortunately, the widespread adoption of technology made it possible for people to work remotely with few hiccups.
Technology also made it possible for people to balance work and personal life in such cases. Lack of regular childcare options, such as schools, forced working parents to share their responsibilities and adopt new work practices. This development has a massive potential to improving gender equity in the workplace as several organizations are headed toward normalizing flexible working.
Of course, the underlying societal attitude plays a significant role in the gender pay gap. However, the pandemic showed that organizations’ actions could influence this gap. While there are bigger questions around technology’s impact on employment — especially loss of paid work due to technological advancement — which may require government policies, organizations can do their best to address inequity within their scope of influence. The choices organizations make in response to technology will significantly impact how technology will affect equity in future workplaces.
Also read: Gender Pay Gap Will Make Women Work for Free: Research Highlights This Concern
Key Takeaway
With advancements in technology and situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations will have to continue reinventing themselves. This involves how they work and how they will treat gender inequity. While technology does not necessarily directly impact gender equity in the workplace, organizations can take it as an opportunity to address this challenge. By taking the necessary steps, organizations must ensure that technology contributes to equity and not against it in the workplace.