Germany plans more transparency over gender pay

Catherine Hardy

 

 

BERLIN: -- The German government has approved new legislation aimed at obliging companies to be more transparent about salaries paid to male and female employees.

 

Why are they doing this?
 

The aim is to tackle the gender pay gap.
 

What are the new rules?

 

Workers in companies with more than 200 employees will have the right to know what men and women in equal positions are earning.

 

Businesses with more than 500 staff members will also have to publish regular updates on salary structures to show they are complying with rules on equal pay.

 

The bill will still have to be voted on by parliament.
 

The stats
 

Women in Germany earn an estimated 21% less than men, according to official figures.

 

This is worse than the European average of 16.5%, according to data from 2015.
 

Why is there such a discrepancy?

 

The thinking is that women in Germany tend to work more often in low-paid jobs or sectors, or only part-time.

 

The pay gap stands at 7% for women with the same qualifications doing the same work as a male colleague.

 

What they are saying
 

“We have to break the taboo that you don’t talk about money, because we want to make sure that men and women aren’t played off against each other when it comes to wages,” – Women’s Affairs Minister Manuela Schwesig says the law is a “real breakthrough”.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2017-01-12

So nice to see there are no other problems in Germany, so Specialdemocrats have time to pursue their pet projects. Like her party colleague and Minster for Justice, little Heiko, who recently tried to bring legislation under way to curb sexist speech in ads. Whatever that is and what's the problem.

 

Lass in the picture is Manu "Küstenbarbie" Schwesig, the Barbie from the coast of Mecklenburg, she actually is Federal Minister for everyone except me, i.e. Family, Seniors, Women and Youth. Well, in contrast to Claudia Roth and some others from the Greens, she is a step in the right direction.

Edited January 12, 20179 yr by Saradoc1972

2 hours ago, Saradoc1972 said:

So nice to see there are no other problems in Germany, so Specialdemocrats have time to pursue their pet projects. Like her party colleague and Minster for Justice, little Heiko, who recently tried to bring legislation under way to curb sexist speech in ads. Whatever that is and what's the problem.

 

Lass in the picture is Manu "Küstenbarbie" Schwesig, the Barbie from the coast of Mecklenburg, she actually is Federal Minister for everyone except me, i.e. Family, Seniors, Women and Youth. Well, in contrast to Claudia Roth and some others from the Greens, she is a step in the right direction.

 

Very similar legislation became law in the UK last year. 

 

Obviously a priority in 2016, nothing much more going on 

Equal pay for equal work is only fair. I hope that all such inconsistencies are rectified. I'd have been really PO if I was paid less than females in my job just because not many men did my job.

 

What I don't agree with is that women want to be paid at the same rate as so called equivalent jobs, ie if firefighters get paid a certain rate, nurses want to be paid the same, because someone said the jobs are "equivalent". This is BS. Male dominated jobs earn more money because men are more willing to strike than females, yet some women think they can just get paid more "because". If women don't want to strike, then it is their own fault they get paid less. Put in the hard work, or shut up.

6 hours ago, Saradoc1972 said:

So nice to see there are no other problems in Germany, so Specialdemocrats have time to pursue their pet projects. Like her party colleague and Minster for Justice, little Heiko, who recently tried to bring legislation under way to curb sexist speech in ads. Whatever that is and what's the problem.

 

Lass in the picture is Manu "Küstenbarbie" Schwesig, the Barbie from the coast of Mecklenburg, she actually is Federal Minister for everyone except me, i.e. Family, Seniors, Women and Youth. Well, in contrast to Claudia Roth and some others from the Greens, she is a step in the right direction.

legislation under way to curb sexist speech in ads.

I hope they bring that in at home. it would stop all those horrid ads that make men out to be bumbling incompetents while women are all perfect and oh so clever.