Sometimes the simple and obvious thing can still be perceived as radical. When it comes to pay transparency, the idea that we might find out what our colleagues are earning is, at one level, radical because pay secrecy is the norm in most workplaces and talking about pay is taboo. But, in fact, it is a basic and obvious step, otherwise the right to equal pay is meaningless. Women have had that right for 50 years, but we have no right to know what our male colleagues are earning, so we cannot know we are being paid equally. Equal with what?
This is why, at Fawcett, we are campaigning for the right to know. This law change would give women the right to find out what a male colleague is earning if they believe they are being paid unequally for doing the same work or work of equal value. There would be limitations on what she could do with that information (for example, she couldn’t publish it), but she could use it to negotiate with her employer without having to go to a tribunal. This would be better for her, enabling her to resolve it, avoid a lengthy, costly legal battle and keep her job. It would also be better for the employer which does not want to end up in a tribunal situation either.
According to the Fawcett’s Society’s November 2019 report Why women need a right to know: Shining a light on pay discrimination, six in 10 women either do not know what their male colleagues are earning or know that they are being paid more for doing the same work. We know from our Equal Pay Advice Service that pay discrimination is much more widespread than people think. But this issue is not just about pay. It goes to the heart of who and what we value. If we value women at work, we must give them the right to know so that they can finally be paid equally.
Sam Smethers is chief executive at the Fawcett Society.
