Gender Pay Gap In Sweden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Gender Pay Gap In Sweden - Essay ExampleEstimates vary on the extent of the pay ranch, ranging in the midst of 15-25% (Advisory Committee on oppose Opportunities for Women and Men, Opinion on Gender Pay Gap, 2007, pp.1-2).Like many other EU member states the gap between mens and womens pay in Sweden has not changed much in the last ten days and there is a general consensus that women are unruffled compassing almost 18% less than men. The paper explicitly analyzes and addresses the different aspects of Gender Pay Gap in Sweden. The data presented in the paper is based on different sources particularly EU study conference reports. It highlights different facts and figures about GPG in Sweden, its origins and Swedish government policy response to counter measures and to level out wage differences between women and man. It also gives few examples of life-threatening practices. And finally few recommendations are made to reduce the GPG IN Sweden.The gender pay gap refers to the di fference between the wages earned by women and by men. In order to take into account differences in working hours and the impact of the income tax system, most estimates are based on differences in gross periodical wages. The most common method is to calculate the gender pay gap as the ratio of womens bonnie gross hourly wage to mens fair gross hourly wage, or as the difference between mens and womens gross hourly wage as a percentage of mens average gross hourly wage. In this case, the gender pay gap indicates how many percentage points the bread of men have to decrease in order to be equal to those of women. Another method is to use the earnings of women as a reference point. In that case, the gender pay gap indicates how many percentage points the earnings of women have to increase in order to be equal to those of men (Meulders et al., 2006).It is unimaginable in a democratic and equal society that women continue to earn on average 15% less than men and 25% less in the privat e sector. Like many other EU member states the gap between mens and womens pay in Sweden has not changed much in the last ten years and there is a general consensus that women are stock-still earning almost 18% less than men. Swedens official wage statistics also indicate that over past ten years, the wage levels for women and men in various sectors of exercising do not show any significant shift towards equality and has remained unchanged. According to the National Mediation Office 2003 annual report the gap between the sexes has remained largely unchanged over the past 10 years (Berg, 2004, para. 13). The same situation is reiterated by Anita Harriman, an expert on equal pay at the right of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman which was created in 1980 when Sweden passed its first law against gender discrimination in the workplace. Anita Harriman some what dejectedly admits that they havent been able to get at wage differentials. Women in Sweden still earn only 82 percent of what men earn, and the only explanation for some of that disparity is wage discrimination says Anita Harriman (Alfredsson, 2006, para. 1). In last couple of years the Swedish GPG has observed a fluctuating trend towards levelling GPG. Nevertheless, these inconsistent changes in levelling out