The moving viral ad that warns of pay inequalities between men and women

On International Women’s Day, Norwegian ad goes viral on social media alert in a very simple and poignant way on the difference in remuneration that still exists between men and women.

The advertisement was carried out by the Norwegian financial company Finans Forbundet and shows boys and girls who are asked a simple task: place separate blue and pink balls in two jars. When both are done, they are offered a reward: a glass of candy and treats. But thThe boy’s glass is obviously much fuller than the girl’s.

The looks and reflections of children say all about the injustice.

The ad warns that in the financial sector men’s salaries are 20% higher than those of women. But the differences, of course, are not limited to this sector.

Pay gap in Europe

The gross hourly earnings of women were, in 2019, 14.1% less than men in the European Union (EU), as reported on Monday by the Community statistical office, Eurostat.

This imbalance varied between the member states of the community bloc, con a larger gap recorded in Estonia (21.7%), Latvia (21.2%), Austria (19.9%) and Germany (19.2%).

On the other hand, the difference in pay between men and women is smaller in countries such as Luxembourg (1.3%), Romania (3.3%), Italy (4.7%) and Belgium (5 , 8%).

In the case of Spain, women earn on average 11.9% less than men, ranking 14th with the least difference between the 27 and the six Member States compared to the European average.

Eurostat measured this imbalance through the gender pay gap, which shows the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women, expressed as a percentage of the average gross hourly earnings of men.

The statistical office concluded last Friday that the employment gap between men and women with low education has widened over the past decade in the EU, reaching 22.5 points in the third quarter of 2020.

A day earlier, the European Commission (EC) announced that it hoped to reduce the gender gap in employment by at least half in 2030 compared to 2019 and increase the supply of education and formal early childhood care to contribute to a better working life. work-life balance.

New jobs are closing the gap

However, Progress in closing the wage gap is most evident when targeting the most qualified employees who take on new positions, according to the Upjohn Institute for Michigan Employment Research New Hire Quality Index. The data, which measures the income of people who take new jobs each month, indicate that Newly hired women earned around 96% of what men earned in July 2020.

Data from Brad Hershbein, an economist at the Upjohn Institute, largely supports a research paper by Rakesh Kochhar at the Pew Research Center early last year, which showed that The median hourly wage for women increased by 45% between 1980 and 2018, compared to 14% for men.

Employers looking for strong social skills seek womenKockhar found, while Hershbein attributed women’s wage increases in part to educational attainment. About 23% of new men hired this year had a college diploma, compared to over 29% of women.

Seen differently, men now represent 51% of the total wage bill, up from 55% ten years ago.

With information from EFE and Bloomberg

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