Authors: Sally Smith, Richard Anker, Martha Anker, Luisa Fernanda Bernat Díaz, Eduardo Lazzari, Thiago de Oliveira Meireles, and Carmelita Veneroso

ABSTRACT

This report presents the findings of studies in five countries to test the Anker Research Institute’s new methodology for measuring the size and determinants of gender pay gaps at workplaces in global supply chains. These studies involved analysis of payroll data for over 15,000 women and men working at 12 factories, farms, and packhouses in the garment and agri-food sectors, as well as over 350 interviews with workers, managers, and stakeholder organizations.

We found considerable diversity in the size of gender pay gaps across the study workplaces, ranging from gaps of at least 22% in favor of men at 3 garment factories in Bangladesh to small gaps of -0.5% to -1.5% in favor of women at 2 garment factories in Thailand. At 3 garment factories in Turkey, the gender pay gap ranges from 4% to 17%, while in Morocco, there is a small gap of 5% for a farm producing fresh produce but a much larger gap of 15% for a packhouse that it supplies. In Colombia, there are gender pay gaps of around 10% at 2 banana farms, despite the unionized farm having markedly higher wage levels than the non-unionized farm. There is a gender gap to a living wage at 9 out of the 12 study workplaces (i.e., the proportion of women earning a living wage is lower than the proportion of men earning a living wage at these workplaces). Importantly, the gender pay gap at workplace level is often considerably higher or lower than the gender pay gap at national level.

There is also variation in the direct determinants of the gender pay gap at each workplace. A common factor is occupational gender segregation and a tendency for jobs that are mostly done by men to pay more than jobs that are mostly done by women. Other direct determinants are gender differences in contract types, forms of pay, access to additional wage payments, and amount of time worked. Underlying causes include: discriminatory norms and gender stereotypes; lack of formal or structured approaches to recruitment, training, promotion, and/or equal opportunities; weaknesses in worker representation and grievance mechanisms; localized socio-economic conditions and regulatory frameworks; and supply chain dynamics. Based on these findings, the report makes a series of recommendations for employers, workers, and other actors associated with global supply chains to reduce and eventually eliminate gender pay gaps, where they exist.

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