Female executives earn only 77% of male managers’ salary

At workAt work

A recent survey from the Norwegian Management Barometer showed that female managers earn, on average, 77% of male executives’ salary.

 

‘It’s difficult to shed gender discrimination,’ said researcher Eivind Falkum at the Labour Research Institute (Arbeidsforskningsinstituttet – AFI).

The organisation’s leaders were behind the survey. Association leader, Audun Ingvartsen, believes that some of the blame lies with individual wage negotiations.

I think equality in salary (likelønnsarbeidet) suffers from the fact that individual wage negotiations have become more common. Many senior executives, and employers, are men, and there are probably many of them who either deliberately, or unconsciously, reward those who are similar to themselves (i.e. men)’, he said.

There is something improvement in working life generally. According to the Technical Assessment Committee, women in working life earn 88% of male earnings, regardless of industry or position.

Two industries with favourable results are the kindergarten sector, and the process industry.

‘In both of these industries, our measurements indicate that women and men are paid equal salaries. The kindergarten sector is dominated by women, also at the management level, and it is therefore no wonder that gender equality is very strong here’, said Falkum.

He didn’t comment on the fact that if Audun Ingvartsen’s analysis held true, women in the Kindergarten industry would then be paid more than their male counterparts.

Falkum said that cooperation between partners in the workplace arose in industry, and that it remains strong in many workplaces.

‘These are traditional industries where there are eight to nine men to each woman at management level. It seems that the practice of cooperative organisation can contribute to more equality between men and women’, he said.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today