On average women in Norway earned 84.5 per cent of what Norwegian men earned in 2005. What do these figures conceal? If we knew the reason for women’s low wages, we would have an important pointer to what action should to be taken. Karita Bekkemellem’s Equal Pay Commissions will have to wait, but the discussion about how best to achieve equal pay is based upon research about what the average figures don’t show.
– The average is an inelegant way to measure the difference between men’s and women’s wages, says Knut Håkon Grini, advisor at Statistics Norway (SSB). In his opinion the figure of 84.5 per cent does not reflect details such as education, age and wage growth over time.
– The difference in men’s and women’s wages is related first and foremost to where men and women work, and what career development they have had. To cut a long story short we can say that women get off to a good start, but stop early on, while men are “still flying high!” The reason for this is that they do different work. Women work in the public sector and men in the private sector, Grini says.
An example of such a female career in the public sector is that of the nurse. – A nurse reaches the top of the salary ladder after 10-15 years of work, while an engineer can continue to climb up the salary scales, Grini says. There is little direct discrimination between men and women in the same occupations. Also hiding behind the average figure is an increase in the difference in wages between women.
Women have started to enter the male dominated high status occupations. Therefore, the difference in women’s wages is increasing. – One of the reasons the difference in the average wage between men and women is so great is because men are spread out over the salary scales while women are mostly to be found in a group at the bottom. Therefore, you can look both positively and negatively at the fact that the difference in women’s income is increasing, he says.
The same work, different pay?
Geir Høgsnes, Professor of Sociology at the University of Oslo in Norway, refers to the same statistic when he argues that the occupations dominated by women have to change their strategy. The article, "Lønnsforskjeller mellom kvinner og menn og betydningen for stillingsnivå" ( Wage differences between men and women and their relevance for career level) by Høgsnes, Roy A. Nielsen and Trond Pettersen, shows that women are not vulnerable to direct wage discrimination when they are in leadership occupations. The main development from 1980 to 1997 is that there has been a reduction in the discrimination of women in leadership positions. This reinforces the probability that it is where women work and their opportunities for advancement that are decisive in the wage differences between men and women. Høgsnes calls for other measures for equal pay.
– Women need to exploit market mechanisms at work, even though this leads to unequal pay for the same work for a period of time, Høgsnes says. In his opinion an increase in the range of women’s wages will reduce the difference between men’s and women’s average wages. The women dominated unions in LO (The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions) are sceptical to Høgsnes’ solution.
– The problem is that LO’s strategy is to focus on low wages in the annual pay settlements. This is all well and good, but it does not help nurses and teachers. The women dominated professions can’t all have the same strategy, says the professor.
Time management
Researcher at Statistics Norway, Ragni Hege Kitterød, believes that it is also necessary to see wage growth in relation to time management within families with small children. She has looked at how couples will small children use their time. Her data shows a lopsided division between the mother’s and the father’s use of time.
– Even when the mother works long hours the father almost always works more, Kitterød says. The figures show that it’s the mother who adapts to the children. Women who have long work hours seldom live with a man who works less, while men who work long hours often have a partner who works considerably less than them. The division of work depends upon the level of education the mother has, but even highly educated women generally have husbands who work more than they do when they have small children.
With these figures in mind it’s worth asking whether women and men have the same wage negotiation situation in the job market: – It’s clear that something needs to be done about women’s relation to the job market, too, says Geir Høgsnes, but emphasizes that this does not affect the negotiating status of the individual woman in relation to pay.
– It’s first and foremost in relation to the chance for promotion that the family situation becomes a factor. If we are to realize equality at work, welfare schemes need to be gender neutral and we need to do the groundwork to make fathers take responsibility, concludes Høgsnes.
Translated by Matthew Whiting KILDEN