Essay on the Gender Pay Gap in the UK: Causes, Education, Solutions

This essay delves into the persistent gender pay gap issue in the United Kingdom, examining its principal causes, the impact on education, and potential solutions. The essay identifies key factors contributing to the pay gap, including the prevalence of men in senior positions, the high number of women in part-time jobs, occupational segregation where women tend to choose low-paid roles, and instances of unequal pay for the same work. It highlights the influence of education, noting that while higher education generally leads to higher earnings, a pay gap still exists between genders. The essay discusses how societal and cultural biases, along with occupational segregation, exacerbate the issue. To address the gender pay gap, the essay suggests solutions such as transparency in company pay scales, the enforcement of equal pay acts, penalties for gender pay discrimination, and awareness programs to combat stereotypes. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for comprehensive measures, including educational initiatives and legislative reforms, to eliminate the gender pay gap in the UK.

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RUNNING HEAD: GENDER PAY GAP IN U.K
STUDENT ID:
STUDENT NAME:
ESSAY ON
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF GENDER GAP IN THE UK? HOW DOES THIS AFFECT
EDUCATION? ARE THERE ANY POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?

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RUNNING HEAD: GENDER PAY GAP IN U.K
The gender pay gap is a contentious issue that has been present in the United Kingdom for the past
two decades. More than three out of four U.K. companies tend to pay their male employees more
than women on an average scale (Dias., Joyce & Parodi, 2020). Recent research and development in
this domain have bought to the surface principal causes of the gender gap in the U.K. to explain the
existent gender pay gap issue.
The first principal cause for gender pays gap issues which persist in the U.K. is that men hold higher
and more senior position in a hierarchy than women. Senior people tend to be paid more than those
who stand below the hierarchy within Organisations. In this scenario, men have higher authorities’
position, and hence they are paid more than women, creating a negative gender pay gap issue.
However, this does not imply that the disparity cannot be tackled appropriately. It is common to
assume that senior jobs require extra time and effort at work, and constant availability is important,
which is not possible in a flexible work structure or part-time work hours. It is believed that women
have to balance their home and office responsibility, and hence, they cannot be given senior job
positions. However, job roles planned efficiently with collaboration to women needs can be done
when digitisation and connection to people have become easier. It can promote women who are
highly skilled and knowledgeable to higher positions.
Another major cause of the gender pay gap issue is that most women tend to work in part-time
jobs, and the hourly wage rate for part-time is lesser as those in full time are paid higher. Hence,
men usually indulge in full time, and women working in part-time jobs tend to be paid less.
Another principal cause for explaining the gender pay gap issue in the U.K. is that too is believed
that women choose to work in low-paid roles than men. It is generally regarded that women choose
careers such as nurse, teachers or assistants in a shop which are low-paid jobs compared to men
who desire and choose to be engineers, surgeons or accountants. The issue which surfaces here is
that women’s skills are unvalued, which needs to be reviewed to hold a solution.

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RUNNING HEAD: GENDER PAY GAP IN U.K
Another principal cause has been bought to the surface that women are usually paid lesser than
men for the same role in the Organisations in the U.K. the average pay rate hourly holds the
significant difference here. To alleviate this issue, surfacing the gender pay gap, U.K has been quite
strict recently about enforcing the Equal Pay Act 1970, where both men and women need to be paid
equally without discrimination. Societal and cultural bias should not determine low pay for women
and higher for men contributing significantly to a gender pay gap. The Equality Act was revised in
2010, and ever since, it has strengthened the right of women in the workplace (Miller & Vagins,
2018). It is unlawful for any Organisations to discriminate against any individual on the basis of
gender. Both men and women have equal rights to fulfil their potential.
Analysing the issue, it is evident that the education sphere has an impact on the gender pay gap.
The higher the education, the higher the earnings, but the pay gap among the genders is evident.
Recent research showed that men without a college education degree were paid higher in the U.K
than women holding a college degree. In addition to this, age and the choice of the job also affects
the gender pay gap.
The women workers holding a bachelor’s degree are young on average compared to men. Higher
pay is given those to who have higher experience. Women are younger than men, and though they
accumulate more college degrees, men have a plethora of experience than just an education degree,
creating a scale of the gap in pays. Based on experience and portal skills, men tend to be paid more.
Recent research shows that there is an influx of college-educated women who are working full-time
round the year and outnumbered men. It is expected that as old educated make workers go out of
labour, the pattern of an educated workforce with the dominance of women may make up a large
population.
Occupational segregation is a common phenomenon existing in the educational field, which creates
a gender gap (Wrohlich, 2017). It believed that women show interest in intellectual care-giving fields
like nurses, social work or teaching, which are low-paid. Men are more interested in educational

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RUNNING HEAD: GENDER PAY GAP IN U.K
fields like commuting, medical and engineering, which are more lucrative and valued. Hence, the
wage pap grows in graduate school as women tend to be interested in low-paying degrees in
education like counselling, social work or nursing.
To alleviate the gender, pay gap issues, some solutions and interventions are essential. Firstly, as
per Ben Jones, transparency in the company will show the detailed job evaluation in the public
sector. It will remove any chances of gender discrimination (Bennedsen et al. 2019). The detailed
audit on the employee pay scale will identify all pitfalls in the payroll system. It will also be an
excellent base to create new policies for improving old policies in payroll. It ensures the
implementation of the Equality Act 2010, where man are women cannot be discriminated against
and should be equally treated. Some other interventions like a penalty on companies or
Organisations imposing gender pay discrimination can effectively combat prejudice.
Education can be a powerful tool to alleviate gender gap issues. Awareness programs around the
country to combat the stereotype to help women gain the same pay package as men to their full
potential should be the focus. Modernising their legislation and addressing occupation segregation
and stereotyping career choices should focus on reviewing the gender pay gap.
To sum up, it is pretty evident that gender pay gap issues have multiple causes. The United Kingdom
needs to take examples of other countries. Also, initiatives such as awareness and educational
programs to promote equality need to be implemented to eradicate the gender pay gap issue in the
U.K from its root.

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RUNNING HEAD: GENDER PAY GAP IN U.K
REFERENCES
Bennedsen, M., Simintzi, E., Tsoutsoura, M., & Wolfenzon, D. (2019). Do firms respond to gender pay
gap transparency? (No. w25435). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Costa Dias, M., Joyce, R., & Parodi, F. (2020). The gender pay gap in the UK: children and experience
in work. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 36(4), 855-881.
Miller, K., & Vagins, D. J. (2018). The simple truth about the gender pay gap. American Association of
University Women.
Wrohlich, K. (2017). Gender pay gap varies greatly by occupation. DIW Economic Bulletin, 7(43), 429-
435.