Building on the success of the Unequal Pay Day in 2018 and in 2017, this year we are again marking this day.
But what does “Unequal Pay Day” mean?
From 4 November on, women work for free
In the EU, women are paid 16% less than men on average. This means that, when compared to their male colleagues’ salaries, women work 2 months out of 12 for free.
Thus, on 4 November, PES Women together with zij-kant is calling for an action day to close the gender pay gap: the European Unequal Pay Day. This is a symbolic day to raise awareness on the fact that female workers in Europe still earn 16% less than men and which depicts that from this day on women effectively are working for free until the end of the year.
This 16% pay gap can be explained by multiple causes: segregation on the labour market, missing leave schemes that allow women and men equally to combine private life and careers, unpaid household and care responsibilities, to name but a few.
While the European pay gap of 16% translates into two full months of unpaid labour and thus leads to the European Unequal Pay Day on the 4 November, on national level this day can fall earlier or later in the year, depending on the respective pay gap in each Member State.
We are encouraging people to:
Click here to download the e-postcard and the out-of-office reply (available in different languages).
The gender pension gap is a result of the accumulation of the gender pay gap over many years. Across Europe, by the time people retire, women’s pensions are much lower than those of men. A report from 2018 found that women’s pensions are still 37% lower than men’s due to lower salaries and shorter working lives, which is linked to caring responsibilities. To raise awareness of poverty risk in older age and the inequality between pensions of women and men, we would like to mark the European Equal Pension Day. This symbolic day aims to make people aware that if we translate the 37% gender pension gap into days, it takes 135 days more for a woman to receive the same amount of pension as a male pensioner did the year before.
The average gender pay gap in Europe is 16.3%. This is the difference in average gross hourly wage between men and women across the economy.
The average gender gap in pensions in Europe is 37%. This measures the differences in pensions between women and men, excluding non-pensioners (pensioners aged 65-79).
Below you find the gender pay gap (Eurostat, 2016) and the gender gap in pensions (Eurostat, 2015) in percentages per state.
Pay gap: 20.1
Pension gap: 41.4
Pay gap: 6.1
Pension gap: 35.8
Pay gap: 14
Pension gap: 15.6
Pay gap: 13.9
Pension gap: 34.5
Pay gap: 14.4
Pension gap: 27.4
Pay gap: 8.7
Pension gap: 21
Pay gap: 5.3
Pension gap: 37.1
Pay gap: 17
Pension gap: 17.5
Pay gap: 13.9
Pension gap: 46.9
Pay gap: 21.8
Pension gap: 14
Pay gap: 19
Pension gap: 9
Pay gap: 7.8
Pension gap: 14.6
Pay gap: 14.4
Pension gap: 13.3
Pay gap: 5.5
Pension gap: 36.0
Pay gap: 14.2
Pension gap: 35.1
Pay gap: 13.3
Pension gap: 28.8
Pay gap: 17.5
Pension gap: 29.9
Pay gap: 5.2
Pension gap: 63.4
Pay gap: 14.9
Pay gap: 7.2
Pension gap: 22.5
Pay gap: 17.4
Pension gap: 25.3
Pay gap: 15.2
Pension gap: 33
Pay gap: 11
Pension gap: 22.8
Pay gap: 15.6
Pension gap: 44.9
Pay gap: 21.5
Pension gap: 43
Pay gap: 12.5
Pension gap: 28.6
Pay gap: 15
Pension gap: 13.5
Pay gap: 25.3
Pension gap: 3.7
Pay gap: 21
Pension gap: 39.1
Discover here how PES Women members tackle the gender pay gap in their country.
Download the PES women gender pay gap fact sheet about the gender pay gap in the European member states.
Download the e-card of the new Equal Pay Day campaign (recto – verso).
Download the out-of-office reply here (EN).
Versions in other languages are available here.
Let’s talk about the gender pay gap!
Watch our rebuttal video here.
Versions in other languages are available here.