Scottish gender pay gap widens as other parts of UK decrease; Aberdeen worst affected
Figures out this week show the gender pay gap has widened further for businesses in Scotland and workers in Aberdeen offices have been hit with the biggest difference.
The country have received criticism from the Westminster Equality Minister, Harriet Harman, after other areas in Great Britain managed to reduce the gap. Figures out from the Office of National Statistics show the gap had widened by 0.4% to 18% in Scotland. Across the UK as a whole, the gap decreased for full time workers to 12.2%. In Aberdeen the gap remains at a staggering 24.6%. Harriet Harman believes her Equality Bill will help women to progress further in the work place.
She said she intends to shine a spotlight on gender pay discrimination in the workplace so problems can be tackled and women can be treated equally.
Ceri Goddard, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society believes the Equality Bill will be a good thing. She said; “The Government’s Equality Bill – set to increase transparency around pay – is so important. The bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to introduce measures preventing pay discrimination and enabling women to access justice when it occurs. The Equal Pay Act promised women equal pay with men nearly forty years ago.”
The figures show males in their 20′s are paid 0.7% more than their female counterparts. By the time workers get into their 40′s this gap widens to 18%.
Other research out this week claimed it was men had lost out in the economic downturn because more men had been made redundant than women in the recession.