equal pay and gender mainstreaming: the case of estonia anu laas equal pay and gender mainstreaming:...
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Equal Pay and Gender Mainstreaming:
The Case of Estonia
Anu LaasEqual pay and gender mainstreaming:
Monitoring the European employment strategySeminar. ETUI, Brussels, November 18-19,
2002
Case of Estonia
Content
I. Gender pay gap in Estonia.Changes during the transition period
II. National policies to tackle unequal payIII. The impact of the EESIV. Policies from a gender mainstreaming perspectiveV. Policy recommendations
I. Gender pay gap in Estonia
Changes during the transition period
Case of Estonia
Share of women’s hourly wage out of men’s hourly gross wage, 1994 and 2000 (%)
Case of Estonia
7176
80
61
87
64 66
74
84
7475 7671 71
78
68
91
84
91
75
50
60
70
80
90
100
1994 2000
Case of Estonia
Gender pay gap for same job
University of Tartu
Women got less paid appr 25%, wage desire also lower
Gross wage income in September 1998 and desired monthly salary by sex (index 1,0 = 3518 EEK or 258 USD, an average monthly salary before taxes in September 1998 at University of Tartu, all respondents, N=695)
Case of Estonia
0,0
1,0
2,0
3,0
4,0
5,0
6,0
7,0
Men, UT IX'98
Women, UT IX´'98
Men, total IX'98
Women, total IX'98
Men, dream '98
Women, dream '98
Case of Estonia
Female work in 2001
about every fifth woman is employed in professional jobs (70,3% - female work – F)
the next out of five is technician or associate professional (70,7% - F)
every fifth woman is working in sales or services (79,3% - F)
Case of Estonia
Low pay
Low pay is a serious social problem Sometimes there is low pay +
informal pay (lack of data) In agriculture is low pay and smallest
gender gap from one side salaries near to minimum, from other side farmers do not pay salaries to themselves (some social tax paid)
Case of Estonia
Low pay cont.
Many women are self employed No data by sex, 2 registers Commercial Register has about 20,000,
tax offices about 40,000 Many self employed people pay only
social tax actually not enough compensation in case of sick leave and low pension is expected
Case of Estonia
Low pay cont.
Unions are negotiating a minimum wage (annually)
Employers organisations’ voice is strong and they say: we are starting to loose our competitive advantage
Case of Estonia
Retail and whole sale are overcrowded Lack of business ideas self
employment in sales and servicesLow investment skills and powerThe highest gender pay gap between
service workers and shop and market sales workers, but gap has diminished
out of ten - eight women out of women - every fifth woman
Case of Estonia
Speculations
Many women ready to work in sales Many small shops, high uncertainty
and employer’s insecurity Lack of cash - informal salary People are divided to small and
fragmented collectives – no unions No unions and collective actions –
insecurity of employees
Case of Estonia
Employed persons aged 15-69 by type
of ownership, 1989-2001 (%)
75,873,3
69
61,2
52,5
45,6
38,8 36,9
31,4 30,7 30,828,528,5
24,226,7
31
38,8
47,5
54,4
61,2 63,1
68,6 69,3 69,271,571,5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Public sector Private sector
Case of Estonia
How the economic transition influenced the gender pay gap?
Rapid restructuring of Estonian economyImbalance in labour demand and supplyPay differences between women and
men in late 1980s, beginning of the 1990s about 18-20%, in 1994 – 29%, in 2000 - 25%
Gendered outcome: gender pay gap has increased during the transition period
II. National policies to tackle unequal pay
Case of Estonia
Main National policies to tackle unequal pay before and after the EES
To what extent these policies follow a gender mainstreaming approach?
Case of Estonia
Before EES
Silence Gender issues raised on national
level after Beijing (1995) Small talk on gender issues Statements: Women earn less than
men. It is normal. Everybody knows. No debates on gender pay gap
III. The impact of the EES
National Action Plan for employment 2002 (NAP)
Case of Estonia
NAP gives anonymous promises
in 2001-2003 a strategy and methods will be worked out to integrate gender equality into the areas of employment and occupational life
strengthening of the policy to guarantee equal opportunities for women and men is one of the priority activities
Case of Estonia
NAP
about gender pay gap is not a word about gender pay gap is not a word about gender pay gap is not a word
Case of Estonia
Women in labour market
High women’s employment rate In 2001, employment rate for women
aged 15-74 was 50,7% and for working age women 62,5%
Lack of choices – women’s income needed
Individual agreements - low salaries
Case of Estonia
Employment rate of women by age group
64,9
76
88,692,8
96,3
49,5
64,6
75,8
82,6 82,9
44,4
62,565,4
76,8
81,9
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44
1989 1995 2001
Case of Estonia
Employment rate by sex and age group, 1989 (%)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
Males Females
Case of Estonia
Employment rate by sex and age group, 2001 (%)
0
10
20
30
4050
60
70
80
90
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
Males Females
Case of Estonia
Unemployment rate
6,57,3
10,5 10,610,1
10,8
13,5
14,6
13
6,6
7,98,9 9,2 9,2 8,9
10,9
12,7 12,3
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Males Females
Case of Estonia
Gender awareness of unequal pay
Publication by the Ministry of Social Affairs ‘Guidelines for equal pay for equal work to men and women’
Distributed: (1) public agencies (2) NGOs Society values success, social exclusion
people perceive pay problem as personal one (low pay I am inflexible, failed)
Case of Estonia
Statistical monitoring of unequal pay: statistics
Statistical Office of Estonia (SOE) adoption of the statistical acquis continuous Labour Force Survey, Household
Budget Survey, Time Use Survey web-based statistical database: www.stat.ee hourly wages by ISCO (annually in October)
lack of gender sensitive data by branch of economy and lack of data from microenterprises
Case of Estonia
Gender research
Courses in two universities Marginal area, no degree program
available No systematic courses to officials and
educators (preschool and school teachers) Applied gender research is often gender
blind
Case of Estonia
No pressure, no need, no activities
Labour laws are good, not implemented People accept conservative gender
ideology Women who struggle against societal
values stay alone against media and public opinion
Only opinion leaders can have ‘strange views’ on women and men in society
Case of Estonia
Marju Lauristin (MP)
Surveys and statistics show that
Estonia is a society, which is adapting very slowly to the understandings and relations to the modern world.
Case of Estonia
Toomas Hendrik Ilves (MP)
I am a bit worried, my honoured colleagues! It seems me that men will decide among themselves what are women’s rights.
I do not believe that it is good for our state that our men decide what women can do and what they cannot, when women are discriminated and they are not.
Case of Estonia
Ilves about Gender Equality Act
It is drafted to avoid these thousands of cases, where a woman gets less paid for same job. A woman is not hired, because she can get pregnant.
A woman is fired the first when there is a need to choose among male and female employees. It is very practical problem, which many people facing in Estonia.
Case of Estonia
Empowerment of women’s movement
About 200 women’s organisations – cooperation on national level weak (like clubs in 1989-2000). In 2002 support to CEDAW shadow report and to draft Gender Equality Act
Weakness: low income low enthusiasm and voluntary work
Leadership skills and capacity building Consensus building
Case of Estonia
Empowerment of labour market players: ministries
Employment and labour market policy: Ministry of Social Affairs
Estonian Labour Market Board Labour Inspectorate (supervision,
monitoring)Enterprise policy: Ministry of Economics Enterprise Estonia – agencies and
measures (some pay attention to women)
Case of Estonia
Empowerment of labour market players: unions
Two dominant confederations, divided between private and public sectors
Union density 15% in Estonia, same in Lithuania, Poland Spain (Latvia 30%, Slovenia 41%)
Strong myth that gender gap in public sector does not exist (gap is lower, it’s true)
Case of Estonia
Private and public sector unions
EAKL – Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions
Federation of Estonian Health Care Professionals Unions - more than 3000
members Union of textile industry employees - 5000 members
TALO - Professional Union of Civil Servants
Case of Estonia
Priority areas in EAKL Action Plan more and better jobs for women gender issues in collective bargaining equal pay for work of equal value access for women to promotion gender awareness for men and women
union members and employers combating violence against women at work life-long education for women
Case of Estonia
Target group: all members
In hotel: ‘Our sauna is unisex, towels needed in order to respect other users.’
EAKL accepts importance of equal treatment principle
EAKL negotiates minimum wages on national level and by industry and qualification
EAKL is active in collective bargaining and monitors collective agreements
Case of Estonia
No complaints on a basis of sex
EAKL: No complaints about unfair wages and unequal treatment on a basis of sex
EAKL staff is aware about gender pay gap Real problem and complaints due to low
pay Vital interest of members is higher salary It is true that implementation of promised
policies and principles are complicated and time consuming
IV. Policies from a gender mainstreaming
perspective
Case of Estonia
Effectiveness of these policies
Training for officials from different ministries (occasional selection, alone in ministry, no voice heard)
From other side officials know that in plans, reports, projects gender dimension should be reflected)
Case of Estonia
Policy contradictions
GM – soolise võrdõiguslikkuse süvalaiendamine (deepening & widening gender equality)
Rhetoric has learned for policy papers Conversation and text analysis shows that
gender issues are ‘uneatable’
Case of Estonia
Discourse on nature, culture and ‘poor men’
Women and men are performing their roles dedicated to them by nature.
Gender equality does not fit to Estonian society and culture.
Men live short and stressful life in Estonia and need should be protected.
Why for women?
Case of Estonia
Institutional framework
Equality Bureau since 1996 1-4 persons, small resources (mostly from
abroad), project based, dependent The Legal Chancellor (acts as
ombudsman), no gender experts among staff
Case of Estonia
Legal framework
Gender Equality Act (1999-2000 prepared by dozen experts, Dec 2001-Sept 2002 in Riigikogu)
Equality and Equal Treatment Act (April 2002 prapared by 4 persons, in Sept 2002 in Riigikogu)
Case of Estonia
Strengths and weaknesses
Some basis has createdWeak desire for equality
V. Policy recommendations
Case of Estonia
Creation of preconditions
Capacity building of Equality Bureau National strategy for improvement gender
equality Implementing existing laws and
conventions Improving legal literacy Adopting Gender Equality Act / Equality
and Equal Treatment Act
Case of Estonia
Awareness and acceptance
Introduction of gender inequality indicators and improvement of data gathering (segregated data by sex, gender research)
Public discussions about gender inequality Discussions and debates on gender pay gap Training of main socialisation agents about
gender issues
Case of Estonia
Fair pay
employment activation measures self employment and low pay
minimum pay policy development of collective bargaining
(today individual pay agreements) encourage women to ask higher pay,
teach people about wage negotiation
Case of Estonia
Soft values and quality of life
ABB in Estonia has declared: Our company is dignified employer
To recruitment offers: Equal opportunity employer