Women tend to live longer than men. If women are paid less but live longer than men, when these women retire, they will have less savings and they face an increased risk of poverty and financial insecurity. Phofo 123rf.com
Elaine Lim, 36, and Zack Ng, 31, are former colleagues. Both of them were working as designers in an advertising and multimedia agency in Kuala Lumpur. But even though they had the same qualifications and number of years of experience, their salaries were vastly different.
“It was disappointing to learn that my salary was 30% lower than my colleague’s when in terms of qualifications and years of experience, we were equal. We joined the agency around the same time ... I even joined a month before him,” says Lim.
When she queried her human resources manager about the pay discrepancy, she was directed to speak to her boss, on the premise that all the salaries were determined and approved by him. The talk didn’t go well. Lim reveals that her boss asked what her starting salary was, and whether she had agreed to it when she was hired. He then asked if she was married, had children or was planning to, and whether she was going to continue working after that.
“I felt it was rather insulting that he would associate an employee’s personal life choices as a woman, with their value as an worker,” says Lim.
After the run-in, Lim left the company.
This was in 2019. Today, she is working with a company that has gender-fair policies in place.
According to gender studies expert Prof Dr Shanthi Thambiah, the difference between the wages that Lim and Ng received is one component of the “gender pay gap”.
“The gender pay gap – defined as the difference between the median pay that men receive compared to the median pay that women receive collectively – is a complex and multifaceted issue with many dimensions.
“When workers are lower on the job hierarchy, the gap is smaller, but as they move up, the gap widens. Hence, when seen as a total, the gap is very wide,” she says.
There are many reasons for the gender pay gap. The first is just the simple fact of whether a worker is male or female, she adds.
Segregation and stereotypes
There are many reasons for the gender pay gap, the first being whether a worker is male or female. Photo: Freepik
Occupational segregation is a main factor contributing to the widening gender pay gap, says Shanthi.
“Women tend to be segregated to certain jobs which are lower paid and undervalued, even though they are no less important. The jobs women usually go for (nurses, teachers, administrators, caregivers, factory assembly line workers) tend to have lower wage averages than the jobs men usually go for (doctors, engineers, technicians),” she says.
There is also workplace discrimination where a male worker and a female worker – with the same qualifications, same number of years of experience, and doing the same job with no differentiation in the quality of work – get paid differently because of their gender, she adds.
“Such gender stereotypes as ‘women can’t focus on their jobs’ or ‘women won’t work optimally because they have care responsibilities (children, aged parents, family)’, while ‘men are more focused on their jobs’ and aren’t subject to such duties’ also contribute to women generally being paid less, and ultimately, will widen the gender pay gap," says Shanthi.
“These gender stereotypes result in women being undervalued even though they are doing the same work and sometimes even more. There is the wrong assumption that women are less productive or that they will not be putting in as many hours as men,” she adds.
The motherhood factor
Occupational segregation is a main factor contributing to the widening gender pay gap, says Prof Dr Shanthi. Photo: The Star/Ming TeohNumerous data shows how women tend to drop out of the labour force when they have a child; and when they return to work, they get paid lower. Men on the other hand, seldom drop out of the labour force, says Shanthi.
“Their years of experience will be less because they took time off to give birth, take care of the children, etc. And even though being a mother is such an important role, it is not valued in the workplace. Instead, it becomes a disadvantage,” she says.
“According to the Labour Force Survey Report Malaysia 2023, the labour force participation of women tends to peak and then dip when they drop out, but for men, once they enter the labour force, the rate peaks and then plateaus until they retire. Men also tend to work longer,” she reveals.
A Khazanah Research Institute report, “The Malaysian Workforce: A Changing Landscape”, found that women’s participation in the workforce peaks at ages 25-29, then declines in all subsequent age groups.This is termed as the “disappearing women” phenomenon, where there are increasingly fewer women in the labour force across age groups, whilst men continue to maintain full participation.
Social conditioning and societal norms are another limiting factor as these teach women to be more accepting and less assertive or aggressive when negotiating salaries.
“A person’s starting salary is the basis for calculating any subsequent pay rise, and any initial disparity in earnings will contribute to future disparities. As such, salary negotiating skills are extremely important, especially a starting salary. But in Malaysian or Asian societies in general, women have been taught to be ‘accepting’ and ‘less aggressive’, and this contributes to the gender pay gap,” she says.
Shanthi also highlights that when there is a lack of women in the top management of organisations, it’s difficult to implement policies that address the gender pay gap.
“We need more women in leadership positions and top management roles so that they can champion policies that will address this pay gap,” she says.
Bad for Malaysia
Gender stereotypes such as men aren’t subject to care responsibilities and household duties ultimately widen the gender pay gap. Photo: Unsplash
The gender pay gap is not only detrimental to women but to society as it results in “economic inefficiency, reduced productivity, as well as the misallocation of talent and resources”.
“If a woman’s male colleague gets paid more when they do the same amount of work, and just as well, it discourages her from putting in more effort, being more efficient or productive. She will be demotivated, demoralised, and eventually drop out out of the workforce, resulting in the loss of talent,” explains Shanthi.
“Lower income wage earners who are paid too little may find their work isn’t viable as they have to juggle household chores and family responsibilities as well as go out to work for a salary that barely covers their transportation and childcare.
“Hence, they also end up dropping out of the workforce,” she says.
Addressing the problem
These gender stereotypes result in women being undervalued even though they are doing the same work and sometimes even more. Phoro: Freepik
Because the pay gap is not narrowing, there are two things happening, says Shanti. First, the number of women in the labour force is not increasing and second, the number of women in decision-making positions is not on par with men.
One of the main indicators for the Gender Gap Index is economic participation and when this isn’t high, it lowers the country’s overall ranking on the index.
“One of the ways to improve Malaysia’s position on the Gender Gap Index is to narrow the gender pay gap by having more women in the labour force, promoting them and allowing them to advance in their career, and seeing to it that they are not discriminated in the workplace by having proper pay audits and legislation,” she says.
In some countries, it is illegal to pay workers different salaries for doing the same job.
In 2018, Iceland became the first country in the world to enforce equal pay: Companies and institutions with more than 25 employees are mandated to prove that they pay men and women equally for a job of equal value; those who don’t incur a daily fine. Even so, women in Iceland (which has topped the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index for the last 14 years), earn 10% less than men and last October, tens of thousands of women – including the country’s prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir – stopped work for a day to protest for equal pay.
Legislation, laws and policies that mandate equal pay for equal work are necessary to address the gender pay gap.
“When there is no law against unfair pay practices, employers will continue to do this because they want to maximise profits by cutting cost and surpressing the wages of the staff, especially women since they are deemed easier to suppress’,” concludes Shanthi.
