Why am I paid less than him?

In 2011 I told you I was paid 27% less than my male counterparts, nothing to do with part time working, nothing to do with qualifications. Just because I am a woman.

It was reported in 2010 that:

"Women in the Midlands fare the worst, taking home £10,434 less than men, while those in the north-east fare the best, where the gap is smallest at £8,955.
Different sectors also varied greatly and women hoping for equal pay were advised to think twice about jobs in IT or the pharmaceutical industry, where the gaps were the largest, at £17,736 and £14,018 respectively."

Yup, a women in IT in the Midlands is the most discriminated against in terms of fair pay. This is despite the Equal Pay Act of 1970 and the Equalities Act 2010.  I can hear Mary Macarthur turning in her grave right now.

And so the story continues, here we are 5 years later and at the Women in IT breakfast at the Oracle UK User Group (read about my day there) I was listening to the same story.  But this time completely IT centric.

Debra Lilley (UKOUG Member advocate and Board Director) and Evolution reported statistics and quotes from the IT sector workers. And it turns out "The level of pay for female IT specialists is 19% lower than that of men" again, this is measured hourly rate against hourly rate

Why?  Well the general theme that comes out every time is women aren't as good at selling themselves, asking for pay rises etc.  I also believe that the IT industry is inherently sexist, it still hasn't managed to shift itself out of the 1970s.  There are very few places you can go these days where photos of semi naked women around the office would be accepted, that sexist comments are guffawed at and female protestations against them are ridiculed as hormonal.  Seriously, it's like an episode of Life on Mars on some days.

I think the only way this is going to change is to increase the number of women actually in the work place, but girls at school are being turned off from it, the women just aren't coming through in the same numbers.  Although interestingly, women are progressing to senior levels in equal proportions to men but from a smaller base of workers.  

source

So the women are making it to management and yet the pay disparity still exists and the inherent sexism hasn't but blown out of the water yet.

The figures aren't just in the UK. The USA has the same issues, only about 20% of the IT workforce is female and it is reported that they are being paid 25% less than their male colleagues.  

This just doesn't seem to be a problem about to go away and it will become an every decreasing circle, the bigger less women in the industry the less likely change will occur, if change doesn't happen the less likely women are going to want to either go into IT or stay if they do go there.

I am starting to wonder if 2067 is actually a realistic date for equal pay for women.