What’s behind Gender Pay Gaps?
The skills gaps, fears and stereotypes driving gender pay gaps in garment and agrifood supply chains
“If I got training in ironing or cutting, I could do it – and I’m very interested in doing it, I’d like to get paid more. But I haven’t been asked by management and I’m afraid to ask. There are possibly some women who don’t want to do ironing because they’re afraid of the steam and the heat. And for cutting you need a certain level of education. But I’m not afraid and I have grade 8 education.”
Woman, Finishing Assistant, garment factory, Bangladesh
“Men are better as team leaders because it’s a responsibility. Some women won’t listen to instructions from a woman, so it would be difficult for them. [Managers] give women the easy work – cleaning drippers, weeding, clearing pruned branches. Driving tractors and spraying is only for men.”
Woman, General Worker, fresh produce farm, Morocco
These workers are just some of the many we spoke to as part of the Anker Research Institute’s research on gender pay gaps in garment and agrifood supply chains. This involved in-depth studies at 12 workplaces in Bangladesh, Colombia, Morocco, Thailand and Turkey, including analysis of payroll data for over 15,000 workers and interviews with over 300 women and men doing a range of jobs.
The quotes above typify the responses we got when we asked workers why certain jobs – particularly higher-paying jobs – are only done by men, while women are usually clustered in a smaller range of lower-paying jobs. This ‘occupational gender segregation’ is one of the main causes of gender pay gaps at the workplaces we visited.
Link to Gender page here to read the study report.
Women lack opportunities and confidence to acquire new skills
Workers often told us that women have few opportunities to acquire new skills that would enable them to get promoted or do better paid work, such as learning how to operate different types of sewing machines or being taught to prune plants or drive tractors. This is partly because most of the study workplaces lack formal skills development programmes and targeted strategies to ensure equal opportunities for women and men. Some workers attend training courses in their spare time, which is easier for men than women because women are often busy with care work during evenings and weekends. But many women also expressed doubts that they would be capable of doing more skilled work, and we also heard that men are more likely to ask for on-the-job training.
“I am developing my skills. I know how to operate a manual cutting machine and when the cutting operator is on leave, I do it. I push myself forward and the cutting operator helps me. Women are less interested in acquiring new skills in this way.”
Man, Scissorman, garment factory, Bangladesh
Gender stereotypes influence the jobs women apply for and are given
The above reference to women being “less interested in acquiring new skills” is also an example of the many misconceptions and stereotypes that hold women back. For example, at garment factories in Turkey and Bangladesh, some workers (especially men) said cutting and ironing are too physically demanding and involve too much risk for women, but this was disputed by other workers (especially women) and disproved by examples of women doing these jobs in some of the study factories. Similarly, at a fresh produce packhouse in Morocco and some garment factories in Bangladesh, women’s “soft hands” and “carefulness” were given as the reason why packing is done by women, but at other garment factories in Bangladesh and Thailand and in banana packhouses in Colombia, both women and men do this type of work successfully. Nevertheless, at several study workplaces, misconceptions and stereotypes about women’s abilities and interests influence recruitment decisions and stop women from applying for jobs that are traditionally performed by men.
Women find it difficult to work in areas dominated by men
Another issue at some workplaces is women’s preference to work in departments where there are other women, which reinforces occupational gender segregation. This can simply be because they want to chat with other women, but it can also be related to the atmosphere and language used in areas with a lot of men, which can be off-putting for women. In Turkey, Bangladesh and Morocco, there were also some concerns expressed about women being at risk of sexual harassment or stigmatisation if they were to work in men-dominated areas, as well as examples of husbands and relatives preventing women from doing this type of work – or, in some cases, any type of work at all.
“My wife doesn’t work. She was interested in working but I recommended that she stay at home to take care of the kids as otherwise she could be blamed if the kids have any difficulties.”
Man, Forklift Driver, fresh produce packhouse, Morocco
“There are definitely some men who don’t want their wives to work, especially in Eastern Turkey. But in Istanbul, men allow women to work because they need the extra income [to afford higher costs of living].”
Woman, Sewing Machine Operator, garment factory, Turkey
What can be done to address occupational gender segregation?
Although we found many examples of women being constrained to lower-paying roles by the issues described above, we were also told about steps that some employers had taken to bring women into jobs traditionally done by men.
In Morocco, women at a fresh produce packhouse have been trained to drive forklift trucks and operate computerized machines. Not only have women proven themselves to be at least as good as men at these jobs, they have become role models and have challenged beliefs that women cannot do this type of work.
A banana farm in Colombia has established an apprentice field coordinator position to enable women to gain skills and experience in this role. This is a transparent and practical approach to gradually increasing the proportion of women in management positions, which may otherwise face resistance from men.
At a garment factory in Turkey, women’s reluctance to work in areas without other women was tackled by channelling a small group of newly-recruited women into a department that had previously been dominated by men. After this, other women were willing to join that department.
Our report from the research includes many other recommendations for employers, trade unions, buying companies and others for how to address occupational gender segregation and other causes of gender pay gaps. Examples include:
Gender Equality and Women’s Advancement Strategies with clear lines of responsibility for implementing the strategy and incentives for supervisors and managers to improve the gender balance in teams they are responsible for.
Mentoring schemes and partnerships with technical colleges to achieve a gender balance at all levels of management over time.
Formal skills development programmes that enable all workers, especially women, to acquire the skills required for higher-paying occupations.
Ensuring recruitment, allocation of work and promotions are transparent and based on objective, gender neutral measures and are not influenced by conscious or unconscious gender biases.
Addressing physical and safety-related barriers to women performing some types of workby adopting gender-aware occupational health and safety protocols and allocating tasks across mixed-gender teams according to each worker’s capabilities.
Role models, awareness-raising campaigns and gender training to address misconceptions and gender stereotypes regarding women’s and men’s capabilities.
Read the full study below
For more information about our research on gender pay gaps, contact ARI’s Gender Lead: Sally Smith, ssmith@ankerinstitute.org
For general inquiries about the Anker Research Institute’s work, contact: inquiries@ankerinstitute.org
The objective of this blog is to disseminate opinions, information and knowledge on topics related to living income and living wage in the form of short articles. The opinions and conclusions contained herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the directors or other members of the Anker Research Institute.