Gender pay transparency mechanisms : future directions for South Africa
Date
2020-03-26
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ASSAf
Abstract
The gender pay gap – that is, the difference in wages between men and women for the same or substantially the same work, or work of equal value – still features prominently as a stumbling block in achieving South African gender equality. If South Africa is to dislodge its stagnant gender pay gap, especially for women in the middle and upper levels of the wage distribution, pay transparency – making gender differences in wages known to employees, government and the public – can compel employers to remunerate fairly and equally. We undertook a comparison between the global and national mechanisms of gender pay transparency to propose a way forward to increase transparency in gender pay for South Africa. In addition to a discussion of existing mechanisms, a summary of the gender pay transparency mechanisms of 16 countries is provided as supplementary material to the article. We found that South Africa could strengthen legislated transparency mechanisms, especially with regard to pay reporting and pay audits, provided that sanctions are attached to non-delivery of these duties. Reigniting the debate on strengthening and improving South African legislation and interpretation of existing governance codes in relation to the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of gender pay transparency mechanisms could strengthen the existing collective bargaining framework and provide the impetus to demonstrate that South Africa sees gender equality as an achievable reality, not an improbable ideology.
Description
CITATION: Bosch, A. & Barit, S. 2020. Gender pay transparency mechanisms : future directions for South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 116(3/4):6772, doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/6772.
The original publication is available at https://sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at https://sajs.co.za
Keywords
Women -- Salaries, etc. -- South Africa -- Government policy, South Africa -- Salaries -- Sex differences, Pay equity -- South Africa -- Government policy
Citation
Bosch, A. & Barit, S. 2020. Gender pay transparency mechanisms : future directions for South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 116(3/4):6772, doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/6772.