Women aged 18 to 20 in manual jobs already earn 18 per cent less a week than young men of the same age. The gap in non-manual work is nine per cent. And the bigger picture on pay shows that it gets worse as they get older. Women who work full-time earn on average 18 per cent less an hour than men. For part-time female workers the situation is even worse - they earn 40 per cent less an hour than full-time men.
Three key reasons for this gap have been identified. Firstly, sometimes women are paid less for a job that is worth the same pay as a man's. This is straightforward discrimination, and we are urging employers to review their pay systems.
Secondly, women take on more caring responsibilities than men. A lack of flexibility in many jobs means they have to take whatever they can get, which is often badly paid, low-skilled work.
Thirdly, women and men do very different types of work, and the jobs dominated by women are usually least well paid. This is particularly noticeable in modern apprenticeships where, for example, 99 per cent of apprentices in construction are men, while 97 per cent of childcare apprentices are women. The Equal Opportunities Commission recently launched an investigation into young people's job choices and the barriers they may face getting the jobs they want.
We strongly believe that stereotypes about the value of "women's work" are one reason for women's lower pay, and this is reinforced by the low pay of most young women doing apprenticeships. A survey in 1999 showed that childcare apprentices were paid less than half (1.70 per hour) the rate for apprentices in the male-dominated field of engineering (3.48 per hour).
Giving all modern apprentices the national minimum wage would help root out the inequality that starts so early in working life. All these young people are learning valuable skills. We cannot justify the low value placed on the skills required to care for young children compared with the skills required to repair a car.
Got something to say in Soapbox? steve.barrett@haynet.com or 020 8267 4707.
