The US, like Australia, has a pretty persistent gender pay gap problem. As 2013 PEW Research found, women are making approximately 84% of the salaries men are taking home, and not much progress has been made in closing the gap in the last decade.
So when a massive company like GAP declares it’s an exception to this problem, it’s a pretty good start. And an excellent example for other companies to follow.
Gap Inc. has just disclosed that it has been paying its female employees on average $1 for every dollar its male employees earn, with the findings confirmed by Exponential Talent LLC, a consulting firm that focuses on diversity and gender-related strategy.
This means that across all the brands it owns, including Old Navy, Banana Republic and Piperlime, women are being paid the same as men, which translates to pay equality globally. With 70% of its workforce female, this is a pretty big statement from a company that employs 130,000 people. And the pay parity is not by accident.
GAP has been committed to gender diversity since the beginning, starting with its co-founder, Doris Fisher, and women are well-represented throughout the company, making up 70% of store managers, 60% of directors, 50% of vice presidents and 47% executive VPs. With female representation in organisations across the US currently sitting at 39% for directors, and less than one-third are VPs and EVPs, GAP is faring far better than the average global company.
“We have a proud tradition of developing and promoting strong women leaders and mentors ‹ from our stores to our divisions to our senior management,” its CEO and chairman, Glen Murphy, told HuffPost. “Removing gender bias from pay practices is the right thing to do and it is good for business.”
Meanwhile, in Australia recent figures show the pay gap has blown out to 18.2%. It’s not good news, but not all bad news either. Given that we have just ‘celebrated’ equal pay day, it’s welcome news that there are a number of companies that are committed to closing the gap.