This year, Equal Pay Day falls on 20 November 2024, two days earlier than in 2023 meaning that instead of making progress and reducing the gender pay gap, the gap has widened.
The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights, has worked out that the gender pay gap for 2024 is 11.3% which is up from 10.4% last year.
Some factors that contribute to the gender pay gap include:
- Pay discrimination
- Women’s unequal share of unpaid caring responsibilities e.g. childcare or caring for the elderly
- The overrepresentation of women in part-time work
- Occupational segregation by gender e.g. undervaluing roles that women are more likely to do compared to men e.g. social care
- A lack of promotion for women into more senior positions.
The PDA believes that everyone should be treated equally both in and outside of the workplace and this includes people being paid equally. Although pharmacy is a more female-dominated profession, factors that contribute to the gender pay gap in the profession are, having fewer female pharmacists in senior or high-earning positions and women’s caring responsibilities.
The Fawcett Society recommends several ways that employers can work to close the gender pay gap. These include:
- Not asking new job applicants their salary history
- Offering flexible working such as flexitime, home working, or compressed hours
- Offering clear and transparent routes to progression within an employee’s role
- Encouraging men to take parental leave
- Tackling workplace sexual harassment.
The PDA has also previously worked with leading equality charity, The Equality Trust, alongside other trade unions, academics, and other equality campaigners, to produce an Equal Pay Toolkit. The toolkit is a practical guide to bargaining for equal pay, designed for union representatives and members to use in their workplaces and can be accessed by clicking here.
PDA NAWP Network
The PDA NAWP Network is a member of the Fawcett Society and provides a structure through which members can work together to proactively address and campaign around gender discrimination, including the gender pay gap. The network encourages members to get involved and join to help raise awareness of the gender pay gap and the steps that can be taken to improve this so that men and women are paid equally for the same work. Members don’t need to identify as female to join the network, allies are also welcome.
President of the PDA NAWP Network, Lourette Latif Philips said, “It is disappointing and disheartening that the gender pay gap persists and is widening in 2024. Everyone, regardless of gender, deserves equal pay and recognition for their jobs. Pharmacists should be given the same pay and opportunities to develop into senior roles, promoting equality, professional integrity, and inclusivity. I hope to see more pharmacists join NAWP and campaign for gender equality.”
Get Involved
- Follow the PDA NAWP Network on social media using the hashtag #PDAnawp
- For more information about the PDA NAWP Network, click here.
- If you would like to get involved with the network and its activities, please email: [email protected]
JOIN THE PDA NAWP NETWORK TODAY
Learn more
- Equal Pay Day 2024 will be 20th November
- The Fawcett Society
- Campaigning with others
- PDA collaborates on Equal Pay Toolkit
- Achieving Equal Pay in your Workplace toolkit
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.