OPINION: Twenty-five years after women from all over the world converged at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, to demand equality, we still find ourselves fighting to be recognised as equal to men, writes Dr Namwinga Chintu.
Twenty-five years after women from all over the world converged at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, to demand equality, we still find ourselves fighting to be recognised as equal to men; as human beings deserving of the same respect, and the same access to social, economic and professional opportunities.
Since time immemorial, women’s contributions to the labour force have been viewed as unequal to men’s contributions, both in terms of the amount and value of work. It is only relatively recently that evidence has shown the untapped potential of the female workforce, whose participation in the labour force remains lower than men’s – if you don’t count the unpaid work we do in our roles as wives, mothers, caregivers and home makers.
Yet despite advances made towards empowering more girls and women through education in the last half decade, efforts that are slowly driving up Africa’s literacy rate, women continue to be denied equal access to employment opportunities and fair remuneration compared to their male counterparts.
The UN estimates that women, on average, earn 77 US cents for every dollar earned by men for work of equal value. This puts the global gender pay gap at 23%, a rate that could take about 257 years to close – and longer when you consider that women of colour earn even less than Caucasian women.
Guaranteeing equal pay for work of equal value not only delivers dignity to women, it allows us to advance our families and make even larger contributions to national development. Failure to do so engenders the systemic discrimination against women that continuously feeds the status quo and denies entire nations the benefits that come with empowered generations of women.
In Africa, the paucity of region-specific data related to the gender pay gap makes it more difficult to fully comprehend the gravity and magnitude of this issue, especially when deeply rooted cultural norms are still at play in many settings.
These norms include the patriarchal mindset that the girl is less valuable than the boy and therefore is not worthy of the highest levels of formal education, and that “no man wants to be with a successful woman” – and especially not one who earns as much as, or more than, him. These continue to negatively influence women’s ability to earn equal pay for the work they do.
The result of this is an uneven playing field on the socio-economic front. In spite of the skills and talents they possess, women may not be able to participate fully in professional events and networking, which in turn has an impact on exposure to opportunities to further their careers – unlike their male counterparts.
Second, pay gaps could also contribute to the inability of women to pay for courses that may advance their careers, creating a funnel that allows men to grow into leadership positions while women lag behind, or drop off.
As long as there is a lack of gender diversity in decision-making roles, gender pay gaps will persist.
Therefore we, as women, with our male allies, have a responsibility to elevate discussions about the gender pay gap; a gap so real and persistent it is keeping millions of women around the world in a constant state of economic punishment for no other reason than that they are women. It is up to us to educate ourselves about fair remuneration, develop strong negotiation skills for better pay, and destigmatise conversations about money.
We must also advocate for the kind of transparency that will drive change within organisations and inspire a shift towards development and implementation of structures and policies that ensure women are not deliberately getting the short end of the stick at recruitment. Salary structures and bands within organisations must be gender blind and transparently shared.
For as long as we stay silent about discrimination in remuneration, true gender equality will never be achieved. It’s time to speak up. It’s time for change.
*Dr Namwinga Chintu is Africa Partnership Director for WomenLift Health.