The gender pay gap in Estonia is unjustified

Two types of discrimination

The gender segregation on the labour market means that there may be two types of discrimination in the determination of salaries:
1) pay for so-called women's jobs is smaller than pay for men's jobs done in similar working conditions and with similar requirements for the employees;
2) traditionally feminine tasks are underrated, because they are performed by women or associated with women (England 1992). The theory claims that the value of a job is genderised.

As the roles of women and men have been seen as different throughout history and only men have been the ones who had to provide for their families, the income of a woman is still considered secondary, which explains why they are paid less. This attitude remains irrespective of the fact that the employment rate of women has been remarkably high (67%) for some time now. As a result of these attitudes, employers pay a female employee less than a male one even if their tasks are the same or equivalent.

Reconciliation of private and professional life

The second plenary session highlighted the difficulties in reconciliation or private and professional life. Professor of Sociology of the University of Iceland Ingolfur V Gislasson highlighted an interesting fact: a woman's decision to work depends on how happy the woman is with her partner's contribution to housework. The right decision in working life can never be achieved if men don't increase their participation in housework. This would benefit all of the parties involved - children, men, women and the labour market. Basically, everyone would be a winner.

There are also big expectations regarding the reaction of the state. Employers and families do not behave and make decisions in a vacuum. National structures have a significant impact on their conduct.

Estonian women have a bigger housework burden than men. The results measured in 2010 indicated that a woman loses income after every birth while the income of men tends to increase instead.

Norwegian laws

Arni Hole, the Director General of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion, first talked about voluntary gender balance in the 1970s in relation to introducing gender quota. The requirement introduced that both genders must be represented by at least 40% in the elected management boards of private limited companies (which are often listed at the stock exchange) was introduced in 2006.

Many top business managers in Norway now say that they used to be against the quotas, but they now believe that the law has been effective and good. She also introduced paternity leave in Norway. A quota for fathers was established in the paternity leave plan by law in 1993. From July this year, 12 weeks are reserved for the father and they cannot be transferred to mothers.

Policy recommendations

The policy recommendations regarding the reduction of the gender pay gap are as follows:
- The public sector plays an important role in policy design and should be an example to other sectors. Although the gender pay gap in the public sector is smaller than in the private sector, it still exists. All employers should review their human resources policies to ensure they are transparent and guarantee equal treatment of men and women, and fair pay in positions.
- More equal division of work and family-related obligations between women and men: the parental leave system and childcare services should be made more flexible, men should participate more in parental leave, tasks in families should be equally divided.
- Data collection: it is necessary to have detailed and up-to-date statistical data that would help to compare salaries.

Politicians admitted that similarly to other European countries, Estonia has the laws that prohibit discrimination and demand that people are paid equivalent salaries for equivalent jobs. However, the gender pay gap in Estonia is very large in Estonia despite the equal treatment requirements.

This means that the law is not implemented and supervision is insufficient.

Merle Kuusk, who deals with social and political issued in the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia, participated in the gender pay gap conference and wrote the overview of the conference.