Dive Brief:
- Even though women make up 53% of the HR workforce, they still earn 11% less than men in the field, according to a new report from Namely. While smaller than the national average gap, a wage disparity exists even where women are in the majority.
- The report also found that age plays a factor, as the gap widens significantly at age 45. Namely hypothesizes that the gap is due to the “motherhood penalty” — lower hiring, promotion and pay rates for women who have children.
- The company reports that emerging legislation (like salary history bans) and new technology (like analytics) may soon lessen the gap.
Dive Insight:
Globally, the wage gap actually widened this year, according to the World Economic Forum. The organization predicts that women won’t achieve pay equity for at least 200 years, if the gap continues at the same rate.
In Silicon Valley, the push to is on to add more women to the workforce in response to gender discrimination claims. Although many companies appear to have made gender equality a priority, women still lag behind men across all categories of employment, from hiring to advancement. For women of color, the gap is even wider.
Some companies are targeting (and meeting) ambitious goals around the pay gap: Salesforce shelled out $6 million to close its gender-pay gap, and Adobe reports it is now at 100% pay equity throughout the company. And while change may not look exactly the same at other companies, employers may need to seriously consider the shifts happening and the implications of the legal and technological advancements that Namely highlights.