Global Gender Pay Gap Persists: Women Still Earn 20% Less Than Men Worldwide

For millions of workers across the globe, payday is a moment of relief and reward. Yet for women, the paycheck often carries a different weight — a reminder of persistent inequality in the workplace. Despite decades of advocacy and progress, the gender pay gap remains at 20 per cent, meaning women earn on average just 80 cents for every dollar men earn. For women of colour, migrant women, women with disabilities, and working mothers, the gap is even wider.

The Real Cost of Unequal Pay

The gender pay gap is not merely a statistical discrepancy. It has daily, life-altering consequences for women, their families, and societies at large. During crises, the consequences intensify. The economic fallout of COVID-19, for example, pushed up to 95 million people into extreme poverty, with women disproportionately affected. If current trends continue, by 2030 more than 342 million women and girls could be living on less than $2.15 a day, deepening cycles of poverty and inequality.

Women also face a “motherhood penalty,” where wages decrease as the number of children increases. This results from a combination of reduced working hours, lower-paying jobs with more family-friendly conditions, and biased hiring and promotion decisions that penalize mothers.

What Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value Means

The ILO’s Equal Remuneration Convention defines equal pay as not only remuneration for identical jobs but also for different types of work considered of equal value. This includes roles that may vary in qualifications, responsibilities, and working conditions but are of comparable worth to the employer or society.

Importantly, remuneration extends beyond wages. It encompasses bonuses, overtime pay, travel allowances, shares, insurance, and other benefits. Without addressing these dimensions, equal pay remains an unfinished goal.

Some countries are leading the way. In 2020, New Zealand passed the Equal Pay Amendment Bill, ensuring women and men are paid equally for work of equal value, including in historically underpaid, female-dominated industries. Similarly, Iceland requires companies to undergo equal pay audits, setting a global benchmark.

Why the Gap Persists

Several deep-rooted factors perpetuate wage inequality:

• Informal employment: Women are overrepresented in the informal economy — street vending, domestic service, subsistence farming — jobs often excluded from labour protections, minimum wage laws, and social benefits.

• Unpaid care work: Women perform three more hours of care work per day than men globally, from childcare to elder care. Despite being essential for families and economies, this work is undervalued and largely uncompensated.

• Restrictive gender roles: Stereotypes funnel women into “soft-skilled” or “care-focused” occupations often labeled as unskilled and therefore lower paid.

• Discrimination in hiring and promotions: Structural barriers prevent women from reaching leadership roles and higher-paying positions, sustaining the cycle of inequality.

Pay Equity: A Human Rights and Economic Imperative

The stakes are clear. Without intervention, over 340 million women could remain in abject poverty by 2030, with 4 per cent of them at risk of extreme food insecurity. In old age, women are particularly vulnerable due to lower pension contributions, fewer savings, and limited access to social protection.

Pay equity is not only a matter of fairness but also of economic sense. According to UN Women, achieving gender equality could generate trillions in economic growth by unleashing innovation, productivity, and inclusive prosperity.

Global Pay Inequality in Numbers

• On average, women earn 20% less than men across all countries, sectors, and education levels.

• In the US, Black women earn 63.7 cents, Native American women 59 cents, and Latinas 57 cents for every dollar earned by white men.

• In high-income countries, gaps are smaller but persist, while in low- and middle-income countries, the true extent of the problem is likely underestimated due to gaps in informal economy data.

• At the current pace, it could take almost 300 years to reach full economic parity between men and women.

Solutions: What Needs to Change

Closing the gender pay gap requires a comprehensive, systemic approach:

1. Formalize the informal economy: Extend labour protections, minimum wages, and benefits to workers in informal sectors.

2. Support unions and collective bargaining: Women’s representation in trade unions and employer leadership is crucial to negotiating fair pay.

3. Legislate and enforce equal pay laws: Transparent pay audits, reporting, and accountability mechanisms must become the global norm.

4. Value care work: Governments and businesses must recognize care as both a human right and an economic driver, investing in childcare, healthcare, and social services.

5. Shift workplace cultures: Eliminate discriminatory hiring practices and dismantle stereotypes that limit women’s career choices.

A Call to Action

As Dr. Jemimah Njuki, Chief of Economic Empowerment at UN Women, put it: “The gender pay gap requires all stakeholders—employers, governments, trade unions—to take full responsibility and work side by side to address these challenges. Women deserve equal pay for work of equal value.”

Equal pay is not just about justice. It is about building resilient, innovative, and inclusive economies. Women’s work must be valued as highly as men’s. Without decisive action, millions of women and their families will remain trapped in cycles of poverty and inequality. With it, the world can unlock prosperity for all.