Not only do men earn more than women, they often occupy more managerial positions. In the European Union alone, 65% of managerial positions are taken by men and only 35% by women. In the EU, male managers earn an average of 23% more than women. So how does Poland compare?
What is the pay gap?
Poland performs well against the 25 European countries surveyed by Eurostat. In the latest “Report on the pay gap in EU countries” (data until 2018) Poland was 5th place . Poland was just ahead of Romania (5.2%), Italy (5.3%), Luxembourg (5.5%) and Belgium (6.1%).
The worst results were: Estonia (25.3%), the Czech Republic (21.8%), Germany (21.5%) and Austria (20.1%).
Wage gap in Poland
The latest data from the European Statistical Office in 2018, shows the gender pay gap in Poland was 7.2%. (For comparison, in 2014 it was 7.7%, and in 2010 – 6.3%.)
Female Polish managers earn over 1/4 less than men.
Worldwide, women in management positions earn less than men. Board members or female directors are less well paid than men with the same responsibilities. In Poland, the pay gap in managerial positions is much higher than the EU average earnings difference. In 2017 it was 27.7%.
Depending on the adopted method of data selection and calculations, Polish women earn on average 18.5% less than men.
Private vs Public sector
The pay gap in the private sector is higher than in the public sector . This rule applies throughout the European Union. In 2016, the wage gap in Polish state-owned enterprises amounted to 2.8%, while in private enterprises the indicator reached the level of 16.1%.
Why do women earn less?
In addition to cultural differences, researchers often indicate that women are less likely to take risks. In addition, they show that women are less likely to compete and have lower wage expectations. Naturally, these traits can be consequences of upbringing.
How to fight the pay gap?
Finland has introduced an interesting solution to the issue of inequalities in managerial positions. Finnish state-owned companies have a quota system – this means that a certain number of vacancies must be filled by women.
Other Scandinavian countries can also boast of very good results in this area. The management boards of state-owned companies remain strongly sexually diverse in Denmark, Iceland and Norway, which is a pioneer in spreading the idea of quotas. Let’s see if Poland follow their lead.
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