There’s a simple solution to closing the gender pay gap, as Sweden’s biggest union, Kommunal, demonstrates in a 47 second video.
The gender pay gap is not just a problem restricted to Australia, where women are earning, on average, 17.1% less than men — it’s a global problem, one that reaches as far as Sweden, a country often considered one of the most progressive in terms of gender equality.
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Gender Gap report, Sweden sits at number four globally for gender equality. Still, the country has a gender pay gap that has barely budged in 30 years, much like our own pay gap in Australia.
If Sweden’s pay gap continues at the current rate, it will be another 100 years before Swedish women reach pay parity. According to figures from OECD, Swedish men currently earn $682 more per month than women, which equates to $10.8 billion per year. In other words, while men are paid until 5pm everyday, women stop getting paid at 4pm.
So in honour of International Women’s Day and a call to action to inspire change to the slow progress of equal pay, Kommunal, with a membership that is 80% female, has launched a creative campaign to provide a quick and simple solution to the gender pay gap. Instead of waiting 100 years for women to reach equal pay, this solution only takes 47 seconds.
Watch the video above to find out how Kommunal chairwoman Annelie Nordstrom gets a raise. In short, she turns herself into man.
Want your own pay rise? Go to Be a Man and become a man.