Groups and Committees

Perceptions of Equal Pay
04 September 2008

Guest speakers:

• Gillian Arnold, Chair of the Intellect Women in IT Forum
• Dr Katherine Rake OBE, Director, Fawcett Society
• Sheila Wild, Programme Head, Earnings & Age Inequalities, Equality Human Rights Commission

Gillian Arnold presented the results of Intellect’s annual Perceptions of Equal Pay survey. She discussed the perceptions, rather than the reality, of equal pay; the implications for the IT Industry regarding 'equal pay audits' or the lack of them; and how negative perceptions can impact on company loyalty.

Dr Katherine Rake discussed the Fawcett Society’s equal pay campaign and how they are calling on the Government to introduce a number of measures to address women’s under-representation in senior positions.  

Sheila Wild focused on the new remit of the Equality Human Rights Commission and discussed the three research projects she has recently commissioned on equal pay.

The main points to come out of this meeting included:

• Women earn on average 17% less per than men in the UK, and in the technology industry the gap is even higher (23%).
• Women work for free from 30th October until the end of the year due to the 17% pay gap. In the IT industry, the date is probably mid-September given the 23% pay gap.
• Intellect’s survey found that only 8% of respondent companies have carried out an equal pay audit. Although this is over double that of the last 2 years.
• Equal pay is a big issue in the US presidential election. We need to make it an election issue in the UK as well.
• One in four employment tribunals are equal pay related.
• There are a number of opportunities for reducing the pay gap, including the forthcoming Equality Bill and the European Commission’s review of the legislative framework on equal pay.

There are three main reasons why there continues to be a pay gap:

• Straight-forward discrimination by employers, who pay women less than men to do the same job. It is estimated that this accounts for up to 40% of the pay gap.
  Solution: Mandatory pay audits for all organisations and allowing equal pay cases to be brought by group action.
• Pink colour ghettos, where work traditionally done by women is still paid less.
  Solution: Equal pay for work of equal value claims legislation to enable comparisons.
• The UK’s long working hours culture, meaning that as long as women take on the majority of parenting and caring responsibilities, women are unable to compete in the UK workplace. Solution: Full sign-up to the EU Working Time Directive and more flexible working at all levels.

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BCS and Intellect: Leadership Briefing on Women in IT
06 December 2007

Speakers:

• Gillian Arnold, Chair, Intellect Women in IT Forum
• Susanne Brealey, Developer & Evangelist, Microsoft
• Jan Peters, Consultant, BCS Forum on Women.

Gillian Arnold provided an overview of the current critical issues and discussed the Business Case for Diversity. She argued that valuing diversity in an organisation can result in reduced costs; improved creativity, productivity and innovation; enhanced reputation with clients and stakeholders; and improved financial performance.

Gillian then moved on to discuss how to retain women in the IT Industry. She explained that the industry is losing women faster than it can acquire them and that there are multiple causes for this, which include the pay gap between men and women, the workplace culture, old boys clubs, lack of career progression, and lack of women role models. In order to overcome this, Gillian proposed getting companies to conduct equal pay audits, achieve a more even dispersion of women and men throughout the organisation, provide flexible structures for working and look at their company culture. She also encouraged women to ask for a pay-rise.

Susanne Brealey discussed attraction and how to get women into the IT Industry by focusing on what is happening, why it is happening and what needs to be done. She argued that women are often put off from entering the IT industry due to its stereotypical image, which is often displayed as a man thing, the perceptions of jobs for boys, career options, the demand of work and the growth of the job market.

Jan Peters focused on actions and current activities. She explained that a lot of research has already been carried out and that there are a number of courses and mentoring schemes. Organisations such as Intellect, BCS, Equalitec, Womenintechnology, UKRC for women in SET, Girlgeeks, e-skills, and some employers are all working on the issue of women in IT. However, she stressed the importance of working together in order to ensure that we attract, motivate and retain women in the IT sector.

The presentations were followed by a discussion with the audience on how to overcome some of these issues. A number of suggestions were made on how to move forward, such as to create a diversity index, implement returners programmes, tie diversity into middle managers’ bonuses and to establish a small, industry-centred unit for women in IT.

An Executive Briefing Note will be published shortly on the notes and actions from this leadership summit.

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Download Depict report, undertaken by the ESF and the University of Salford 

If you require further information regarding the report, please contact:
Claire Keogh
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Glass ceiling, harassment, bullying, discrimination: what are the issues impacting your career?
02 May 2007

Speakers:

• Michelle Ryan, Exeter University
• Karen Sadler, AccessMatrix

Michelle Ryan's presentation reported the findings of the research she undertook in the last three years at University of Exeter where the nature of the leadership positions that women attain was examined. She suggests that the experience of women in leadership roles tends to be quite different from that of men. In particular, there is evidence of a "glass cliff", whereby women are more likely to be given much more precarious or risky leadership roles than men. 

She finally outlined the glass cliff implications for women and for the organisations.

Karen Sadler's presentation looked at background information on legislation and legal definitions of bullying and various forms of harassment and discrimination.  She explained the various scenarios of what bullying, harassment and discrimination imply.  She finally outlined the various options and methods of dealing with these unacceptable behaviour in the workplace.

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For more information contact:

Kate Whitehead
Programme Executive
T 020 7331 2005
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