Today’s news review looks at coverage of a study into the gender pay gap.
Gender pay gap
Today, Wednesday 4 January, a study found that the gender pay gap for women in their twenties has narrowed to 5 percent but widens again once women start a family.
The findings from the Resolution Foundation were covered briefly on BBC Breakfast and Radio 4’s Today Programme. They were also reported by the Press Association, BBC Online, Guardian, Huffington Post, Independent, the Daily Mail, Times and Financial Times.
While some outlets concentrated on the gap narrowing for younger women, others chose to focus on the study’s claim that when women have children, the gap re-opens for the rest of their career.
We do know that there is still work to be done to ensure fair pay between men and women, especially for workers who choose to become parents. This is why we are doubling our free childcare offer for working mothers and fathers of three and four-year-olds to 30 hours from September.
This year, it will also become mandatory for both voluntary and private sector UK employers with more than 250 staff to report what their gender pay gap is and what bonuses they grant. This will come into force in April, subject to parliamentary approval.
After this comes in, the new regulations will cover around 9,000 employers with over 15 million employees – making up nearly half of the country’s total workforce.
A government spokesperson said:
The gender pay gap is at a record low but we have to push further to eliminate it completely – shining a light on organisations’ pay gaps means employers can take action to tackle the causes and drive change. That’s why we are introducing requirements for all large employers to publish their gender pay and bonus gaps data from April this year.
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