The campaign for equal pay
International Women’s Day should not just be a symbolic date on the calendar, but it should be about true gender equality between women and men. We have come far towards gender equality, but still have far to go. On March 8 2021, we would like take another step to close gender pay gap. People deserve to be paid equally for work of equal value regardless of their gender.
What is the problem?
Women on average earn less than men in the European Union, including Hungary, where gender pay gapwas 18% in 2019. If the invisible work is included, the gender paygap is even more significant. According to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, men’s gross monthly earnings were nearly 200 Euro higher than women’s in the first half of 2019. Based on current trends in Hungary, we can expect the wage gap to close around 2102. It is our common goal that this should take place earlier than in 80 years. The existence of gender pay gap demonstrates that women and the work they do are systematically undervalued than men’s. In fact, the situation gets worse, when the time comes to retire because women receive 40% less in pension than men.
What do we want to achieve?
Our goal is to highlight the existing gender pay gap in both public and private sector in Hungary and help companies tackle this gap. In order to achieve this, we would like companies to become transparent about their gender pay gap and make a public commitment on how to close them. Following Britain’s approach to bridging the gender pay gap, we aim to initiate legislation (we call it “Gender Pay Gap Information Bill”) that will require employers to report their gender pay gap figures in each year. Once the bill is passed, we will create a website where this data can be searched and compared across organizations. The data will help the joining organizations to identify the potential causes of the gender pay gap and eventually close it.
How can you participate in the campaign?
We are looking for companies and organizations who would like to set a positive example and commit to publish data on gender pay gap in one year regardless of the legislation initiative that can take more time. We would like to ask you to make a public commitment until March 8, 2022 using the hashtag #OneStepCloser or #EgyLépésselKözelebb that you will publish your annual gender pay gap data on your website in one year’s time. By joining our campaign, you will be sending a strong signal about your commitment to gender equality in the workplace. Following the public announcement on Women’s Day this year, we expect other organizations to join the campaign and commit to reveal their gender pay gap data in 2021. In the meantime, we will work on the adoption of the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill.
You will have 1 year to:
1) collect data about your employees and their pay
2) use the data to make calculations about your gender pay and bonus gap and
3) publish the following data:
- mean gender pay gap
- median gender pay gap
- mean bonus gender pay gap
- median bonus gender pay gap
- proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment
- proportion of males and females in each pay quartile.
In addition to the data, your organisation can also add a supporting narrative that can help everyone understand why a gender pay gap is present in your organization and what the organization intends to do to close the gender pay gap.In case you need any help developing your action plan or making the calculations, we can provide you a guidanceon best practices and calculations.
We are happy to consult with individual companies about the specific format of the campaign and share further details as needed.
For further information please contact us
