Y7 delegates call for G7 leaders to urgently close the gender pay gap

Shunta Takino (Japan), Gabrielle Rousseau (France), Dominic Jones (UK), Tullio Ambrosone (Italy), Johannes Röder (Germany), Rahul Pallan (Canada), Casey Wang (US), Michal Skreta (EU)

Young leaders push to make gender equality a reality in the labour markets and beyond.

Women in full-time employment are still paid on average 15.4% less than men in full-time employment across the G7 countries. As G7 youth representatives, we urgently call on the G7 leaders to close this gap and address this long-standing injustice that disadvantages half of our population. 

Despite progress in closing gender gaps in some areas of our societies, most notably in educational attainment, gender inequalities persist in all areas of work - from hiring practices to day-to-day work and promotion opportunities. According to the World Economic Forum’s projections, it could take more than 250 years to close the global gender gap in economic participation and opportunities.

The COVID-19 crisis also threatens to set us back years in achieving gender equality in our societies and at work. Women make up a large proportion of employment in sectors that have suffered most amidst the crisis, including food services, retail, and hospitality, leaving many women’s jobs at risk. 

Women have also been at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis response globally, often having to expose themselves to elevated risk of contracting the coronavirus. Women account for around 70% of the global health workforce, and in the long-term care sector in the G7 countries—which has been so devastatingly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic—almost 90% of workers are women. 

As school closures continue in some G7 countries, we are reminded that women spend at least 50% more time than men on unpaid care work such as childcare and housework in all of the G7 countries. While the need for men and women to both stay at home amidst lockdowns has helped to shift traditional gender norms in some households, it has still been women who have been more affected by the challenge of juggling work with family commitments when schools closed. The imbalance in contributions to unpaid care work is a key driver of lower full-time employment rates among women in paid work, and also contributes to concern about taking up new professional responsibilities, limiting the upward mobility of women to enter positions of leadership. In a recent IPSOS survey, women in G7 countries were around 40% more likely than men to say they do not seek new professional responsibilities for fear of not having enough time to do other activities such as housework and looking after children.

To achieve gender equality at work, a gender lens must be mainstreamed across all policy areas as we look to build back fairer for the decades to come. As youth representatives of the G7, we remind policymakers that gender-blind policy is not the same as gender-neutral policy. We know, for example, that second earners face a much higher income tax rate when entering work in a number of G7 countries including Germany and Canada, and that as a large majority of second earners are women, this creates disincentives for many women to enter full-time employment. 

Gender equality also featured prominently as a national priority in many of our national surveys of young people in the G7 countries. In Japan, respondents identified gender inequalities as the second most urgent inequality to address, behind only income and wealth inequality. In Germany, gender equality in the working environment was identified as the third most important area to address in the economy, while in Italy, the gender pay gap was third most often identified as a major challenge for young people in the world of work.

Accounting for the gender dimensions of policy is a core consideration for us as we develop our policy recommendations for the G7. When we call for closing of the digital divide, we do so in recognition of the need to ensure girls and women are empowered to benefit from the digital transformation. We must thus address the fact that women are not only less likely to have access to digital tools, but also less likely to go into science and STEM-subject related careers. When we recently called for G7 leaders to take urgent measures to ensure freedom from violence for women, we did so in recognition of the fact that stay-at-home measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus have left some women at increased risk of intimate partner and domestic violence.

The United Kingdom G7 Presidency has established a Gender Equality Advisory Council— renewing the initiative created by the Canadian G7 Presidency in 2018, and reiterated by the French G7 Presidency in 2019—to produce recommendations on how to empower women in the COVID-19 recovery. Yet change will only come about through concrete policy action.  Evidence-based policies that are already known to help close gender pay gaps – including gender pay gap transparency policies and parental leave reform – should be considered policy priorities in G7 countries. 

Gender pay gap transparency policies obligate employers to identify and report gender pay gaps, and create incentives for employers to take action to close these gaps. The public sector—as a major employer in G7 countries—should also pave the way by reporting existing gender pay gaps.

Reforming parental leave and supporting young mothers is also a key policy lever as evidence points to childbearing being the period when the wages of men and women begin to diverge. Well-paid paternity leave can help promote men to take leave and be more involved in contributing to childcare, while expanding access to affordable childcare can support women in working while having children. Yet the  success of such policies also hinges on changes in attitudes in all parts of society, including men and women, as well as employers. 

Last but not least, we need better representation of women in leadership positions both in the public and private sector. 90% of G7 citizens agree that “outcomes of decisions are positive when women and men are involved in decision-making,” reflecting a growing view among our citizens that better representation of women will contribute to better societies. More broadly, if we want policies that provide equal opportunities for people of all genders, we need leadership that reflects this diversity. 

As youth representatives of the G7, we call on our leaders to address the gender inequalities that persist in our labour markets and beyond. And we invite the Gender Equality Advisory Council to discuss with us on the policies that can be put in place to ensure that we build back fairer from the COVID-19 crisis. Ensuring equal opportunities for women in G7 countries would be an important step towards achieving a world where our citizens and future generations have equal opportunities to shape and pursue their ambitions.