BL Premium reports that SA’s gender wage gap shows little sign of abating, with the Covid-19 pandemic entrenching pay and representation disparities between men and women in top jobs across the country’s JSE-listed boardrooms and businesses.
According to research from advisory firm PwC released on Thursday, women in top leadership roles at SA’s largest firms earn 72c for every R1 earned by their male counterparts, constituting a median gender pay gap of 28%. Though this is an improvement on 2020’s 45% gap at the JSE’s top 40 companies, gender pay disparities at medium-sized and small-cap companies worsened in 2021 to 46% and 27% respectively. “It’s evident that the pay gap has remained stagnant and it’s not showing any rapid improvement over the last few years,” said PwC’s Andreas Horak. Gender pay disparities were identified across all sectors except one. Basic materials — which includes SA largest mining houses — was the only sector where female employees earned a 4% premium on their male peers. The worst performers were in the consumer services and real-estate sectors, where the pay gap stood at 41% and 35% respectively. Meanwhile, representation of women at the top levels of business has stagnated, with only 13% of executive directors, including CEOs and CFOs, being women.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lynley Donnelly at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
- Read too, PwC report highlights need for increased focus on diversity, inclusion and ESG, at Engineering News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page