Gloria De Piero MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities has today written to Glen Watson, Director General of the ONS calling on them to re-think the way they record the gender pay gap.
The full text of the letter is below:
Glen Watson
Director General, Office for National Statistics
1 Drummond Gate
Pimlico, London,
SW1V 2QQ
14th July, 2015
Dear Mr Watson,
I write regarding the Prime Minister’s announcement today that he wishes to see the gender pay gap eradicated in this generation.
We in the Labour Party wholeheartedly welcome this commitment but feel that the ONS measurement of the gender pay gap serves as a hindrance to achieving this goal.
Everyone would regard an hour at work as an hour at work, regardless of the hours you might work in a week. The gender pay gap is measured as the difference between hourly pay between men and women. Yet, the ONS when analysing the gender pay gap reports on full-time and part-time pay rates separately.
Part time work is done mainly by women with children and is paid on average a third less per hour. This part-time pay rate is a motherhood penalty – and the current classification institutionalises this motherhood penalty. The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings last year reported that the gender pay gap was 9.4%, yet when looking at full and part-time work together it is actually 19.1%.
I am writing to ask the ONS in future to publish the gender pay gap as a single hourly pay rate for women and men – that way we can see the true extent of the pay gap.
If we are to end the gender pay gap this generation we in the Labour Party see this as a crucial step.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Gloria De Piero MP
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities