Equal pay is when men and women in a workplace are paid equally. Their payment, based on job titles, should not be unequal in any way. Unequal pay occurs due to discrimination based on gender, in one’s workplace. This situation is commonly seen in countries like India, South Korea, Japan, etc. A gender pay gap is a difference between the average wage of two different groups (here, men and women). Therefore, unequal pay is coined as a gender issue, created due to a gender barrier. In India, the reasons for a gender pay gap are usually based on something socioeconomic. Many girls are made to drop out of school early, to stay home and learn chores to run their own household. They get married early. Sometimes, women are educated but are not allowed to go to work by their families. Women who do get to join the workforce have to take maternity leave or leave to take care of their family members. This leads to women falling behind men.
This does not only happen in the corporate world but in the agricultural and sports worlds as well. In the sports world, women categories are less popular and receive less spectatorship, in comparison to their male counterparts. Quite a few other countries have made decisions and efforts to have equal pay for both men and women in sports but India does not seem to be taking such steps. In fact, in cricket, the best women players still get paid less than what the lower grade men players seem to receive. Coming to agriculture, women get paid 22 per cent less than their male coworkers. They get paid less based on their skills and are valued less because their capability to do strenuous work is supposedly less. This is extremely unfair and I truly hope our country decides to do something about this.
I believed that equal pay simply does not exist, but I was shocked to know that many countries have significantly reduced their pay gaps like Iceland, Switzerland, Canada and Sweden. I sincerely hope the Indian government takes action and reduces the pay gap as well.
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