Addressing the gender pay gap: Government and social partner actions – France
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Analysis of the gender pay gap, which is globally fairly negative, shows how much the place of women in the labour market and employment has remained very different from that of men in France: women and men with exactly the same training are not paid the same in the labour market. Such unequal pay reflects inequalities that women face in the labour market.In terms of equal pay, the national legal framework seems relatively well developed, especially with the law adopted in 2006 which laid down objectives for the social partners. Nevertheless, it has to be noted that the gap between the law and the real situation seems to be getting bigger every day.
1. The gender pay gap: national data
For several decades already, the economically active population has become greatly feminised. However, in spite of this progress regarding gender equality in the labour market, inequalities persist regarding men and women's pay. In 2006, in companies of 10 or more employees in the competitive sector, women's average gross pay was 27% lower than that of men (Lara Muller, Premières Informations, Premières Synthèses, n°44-5, DARES, 2006).
This pay gap partly reflect differentiated distribution of men and women in employment: women are less often in executive positions than men; they occupy skilled or supervisory positions less often than men. Thus Dominique Meurs and Sophie Ponthieux (2006) emphasise that 75% of the pay gap is a result of different employment structures, with the most important factor being working hours. They also observe great stability of the dispersion of pay since 1990. This 'stability' of the differential of men's and women's pay is particularly astonishing when one observes the increase in women's activity in the labour market, their educational level (which has caught up with, and even overtaken, that of men), and also the number of legal measures that prohibit pay and other kinds of discrimination.
| YEAR | % |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 75,1 |
| 1991 | 75,4 |
| 1992 | 76,0 |
| 1993(*) | 78,4 |
| 1994 | 80,5 |
| 1995 | 81,3 |
| 1996 | 81,0 |
| 1997 | 81,4 |
| 1998 | 81,6 |
| 1999 | 81,7 |
| 2000 | 81,6 |
| 2001 | 81,5 |
| 2002 | 82,1 |
| 2003 | 81,9 |
| 2004 | 82 |
| 2005 | 82 |
| 2006 | 81,2 |
| 2007 | 81,1 |
(*) N.B. break in the series in 1994
Source: Insee, Site internet de l’Observatoire des inégalités http://www.inegalites.fr/spip.php?article972&id_mot=104
The gender pay gap is biggest amongst executives (30.8%) and thus amongst highest level employees. Conversely, the smallest gap is to be found amongst office workers (5.7%), which is a category mainly made up of women.
| Men (€) | Women (€) | Total (€) | Gender gap (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2 138 | 1 736 | 1 997 | 23,1 |
| Executives (1) | 4 276 | 3 268 | 3 997 | 30,8 |
| Intermediate professions | 2 123 | 1 862 | 2 017 | 14 |
| Non-manual workers | 1 444 | 1 366 | 1 391 | 5,7 |
| Manual workers | 1 495 | 1 239 | 1 459 | 18,7 |
Source : INSEE, DADS, 2007
1.1. Please provide the reference details (see fact-sheet below), including a brief summary, of the main studies and research on the size and the determinants of the gender pay gap in your country published in the period 1999-2009.
| National studies on the gender pay gap | Fact-sheet no.1 |
|---|---|
| Title | Can the gender pay gap still become narrower? |
| Authors | Dominique Meurs and Sophie Ponthieux |
| Year of publication | 2006 |
| Bibliographic references | Economie et statistique n° 398-399 |
| Link to electronic copy of the report | http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?reg_id=0&id=1989 |
| Coverage (nation-wide, sectors, occupations, regions, etc: please specify in detail) | France, annual employment surveys of all employees of 15 years of age and over |
| Time span (e.g. 1995-2003) | 1990-2002 |
| Data-set (official, ad-hoc survey or study, etc: please specify in detail) | |
| Type of analyses performed on the data-set (methods, e.g. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition) | Evolution of the components of the gender pay gap: variation of observed features, with constant dispersion ('quantitative' impact), impact of the variation of the gaps in performance of the observed features ('price' impact), variation of the selectivity component and variation of differences in residues. Equations of gains (opposite of Mills ratio) of men and women. |
| Main results. Unadjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | |
| Main results. Adjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | |
| Main results. Please list the individual and/or workplace variables taken into consideration in the adjusted gender pay gap (e.g. education, age, seniority, working hours, occupation, region, sector, firm size, etc.) | Human capital, structures of jobs, working hours. Age, number of years of studies, family situation, potential experience, length of service in the company, type of schedule, type of position, type of contract, occupational category, function, sector of activity, specific features of the position, born abroad, residence in the Paris region. |
| Main results. Which ‘institutional’ or policy variables (qualitative or quantitative) have been taken into account in the study? Is there evidence (i.e. in multi-national studies incorporating your country, or when observing a national switch in policies such as, for instance, the introduction of sectoral minimum wages) that certain institutional factors or policies have tended to affect (narrow) the gender pay gap? | |
| Main results. The determinants of the gender pay gap: please provide a brief summary | In 2002, the gender gap in terms of monthly wage is 25.3%. This differential was barely one point higher in 1990. Whether the factors accounting for it are structural (related to the characteristics of production and employment) or individual (related to the return on endowments), the gender gap has not changed over time. 1990 or 2002, either year displays a wage differential explained by differences mainly in the employment structure (75%), which includes a key factor: working-time patterns. |
| Main results. Policy recommendations: please provide a brief summary |
* Female pay as a percentage of male pay.
1.2. Are there any studies published in the 1999-2009 period, possibly using qualitative methods, which investigate the social processes which contribute to determining the gender pay gap through selection, occupational segregation, discrimination, and the like? Is there any research on the development of pay gaps during the life course? Do pay gaps emerge at the beginning of the individual careers of women or do they become significant at later stages of professional development? Because of different gendered career paths or because pay gaps tend to increase as the professional career advances (i.e. higher gaps at higher organisation positions)?
A study that was published in August 2001 by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (institute national des statistiques et des etudes économiques, INSEE) (Insee Première, « Les écarts de revenu salarial entre hommes et femmes en début de carrière », Sylvie Minez et Sébastien Roux n°801, Août 2001) emphasises that the gender pay gap – far from disappearing – persists and is even tending to widen over the generations: the gender pay gap was of the order of 22% for beginners of generations at the beginning of the 1990s, whereas there was a difference of 15% for beginners of the generations at the end of the 1970s.
This growth of the gender pay gap over a period of about twenty years (amongst young people entering the labour market) is mainly related to the status of the job they occupy. Two points need to be made. On the one hand, men and women do not occupy the same jobs – women are employed more in part-time jobs and men in full-time jobs. On the other hand, regardless of the particular generation, the pay gap is bigger for part-time employees (even though it has greatly narrowed for part-time beginners, dropping from 17% for the generations at the end of the 1970s to 12% for those at the beginning of the 1990s) than for full-timers (for whom it is always about 9%, regardless of their generation). However, as young women are much more concerned by the increase in part-time employment than men (at the beginning of the 1990s, 35.2% of first jobs occupied by women were part-time, compared with 17.7% of men's first jobs), as the probability of their transferring to part-time employment is much greater than men's, as their probability of eventually accessing full-time employment when they begin as part-timers is much smaller than men's, and as this process of feminisation of part-time employment (which the authors note is more often imposed than chosen) has only increased the overall gender pay gap over the generations, the overall gender pay gap has, in fact, been consolidated.
The 'working time' impact is not the only potential bias – even with the same qualifications, sector of activity, size of company and comparable region, male beginners earn on average some 8.5% more than their female counterparts. The only really positive point of the study was that this gap narrowed if one compares it with the 1970s cohorts for whom it was 10.3%. The increase in the level of qualifications of women certainly has something to do with this narrowing of the pay gap.
These pay gaps are not absorbed – far from it – throughout careers. The authors Sylvie Minez and Sébastien Roux show that five years after entering the labour market, the gender pay gap widens. Overall, regardless of the generation under study, after five years' career, men earn on average 26% more than women. This increase in the pay gap over the years of occupational experience is without doubt essentially linked to different occupational behaviour of men and women. As the study emphasises, 'pay gaps are greatly influenced by men's and women's different participation in the labour market: after five years, the rate of presence of men is about 10% greater than that of women, regardless of the generations under consideration'. In addition, there are differences regarding career opportunities and access to positions of responsibility.
Unequal career paths and pay between men and women develop differently from one generation to the next, depending on the type of job occupied. For men and women, who start in part-time employment, the pay gap between beginners and experienced employees is greater than for new cohorts than for older ones: 'the gap passes after five years from 12.2% to 29.7% for most recent cohorts (+17.5 points) and from 17.2% to 34% for the oldest ones (+16.8 points). This pay differential between old and recent cohorts and between beginners and experienced employees is the opposite for full-time employees; indeed, the gender full-time pay gap narrows over generations, especially because of the higher level of qualifications of women and their occupation of positions of responsibility.
1.3. Are there any studies in your country on how gender differentials of pay have been affected by the current economic crisis?
In an article entitled 'Women on the edge of the economic crisis' (Femmes au bord de la crise économique), Françoise Milewski and Hélène Périvier emphasise that the crisis will not have the same impact on women's employment as on men's, especially because the labour market is still segmented (women and men are not in the same sectors), and also, above all, because women are more concerned by atypical forms of employment (part-time and short contracts). Analysis of unemployment statistics of the first and second quarter of 2009 shows that men's unemployment has increased more than that of women. This is the case for all ages (see following table). This is explained by the fact that destruction of jobs is concentrated mainly in industrial sectors, where there are fewer women. The service sectors, which are the main source of jobs for women, seem up until now to be spared the impact of the drop in economic activity. Thus, as a result of occupational segmentation, the recent flood of jobseekers is above all composed of men. At this stage of the crisis, women are thus less affected by the reduction in employment.
| ILO unemployment rate (%) | Variation in percentage points | Thousands | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009,1st Q | 2009, 2nd Q (p)* | Over one quarter | Over one year | 2009 2nd Q (p)* | |
| Total | 8,5 | 9,1 | 0,6 | 1,8 | 2 591 |
| 15-24 years | 22,3 | 23,9 | 1,6 | 5,2 | 662 |
| 25-49 years | 7,6 | 8,1 | 0,5 | 1,6 | 1 490 |
| 50 years and over | 5,7 | 6,0 | 0,3 | 1,0 | 439 |
| Men | 8,1 | 8,8 | 0,7 | 2,0 | 1 310 |
| 15-24 years | 23,6 | 24,7 | 1,1 | 6,0 | 373 |
| 25-49 years | 6,6 | 7,5 | 0,9 | 1,9 | 723 |
| 50 years and over | 5,6 | 5,8 | 0,2 | 0,7 | 214 |
| Women | 9,0 | 9,4 | 0,4 | 1,6 | 1 280 |
| 15-24 years | 20,7 | 22,8 | 2,1 | 4,0 | 289 |
| 25-49 years | 8,6 | 8,7 | 0,1 | 1,3 | 767 |
| 50 years and over | 5,8 | 6,3 | 0,5 | 1,4 | 224 |
Source: Insee, enquête Emploi
Source: http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/info-rapide.asp?id=14&date=20090903
2. Government initiatives to address the gender pay gap
2.1. In light of the current economic crisis, has the national government taken any steps to assess and monitor the impact of the current economic downturn on gender pay inequalities? If yes, please briefly illustrate them, including the results of such assessment. Has the government started any initiatives to prevent or address the possible widening of the gender pay gap because of the economic downturn?
Since the beginning of the financial and economic crisis in France, the government has not introduced specific measures aimed at combating the gender pay gap. The measures that have been introduced were adopted earlier.
2.2. Please illustrate the major government initiatives to address the gender pay gap put in place since 2005. Since there is extensive legislation on gender equality, interventions are usually of an indirect nature.
For instance, these could include:
- Awareness-raising campaigns
- Monitoring initiatives of the gender pay gap, or gender equality in employment in general
- Tripartite initiatives triggered by the government on equal pay or gender equality in employment in general
- Establishment/creation of specific bodies to address the gender pay gap, or gender equality in employment in general
- Legislation on incentive-driven or mandatory equality plans at company level
- Legislation on quota-systems in certain positions, such as in company boards
- Education and training policies specifically aimed at women with a view to address occupational segregation (e.g. addressing career choices of young women)
- Fiscal policies or income support measures targeted on low-paid jobs where female employment is particularly high
- Interventions on parental leave regulation to support female career development
- Interventions on care services to support female career development
The President of the Republic relaunched the issue of equal pay in January 2005 and this led to a new law being adopted on 24 March 2006. It supplements existing measures, namely the 2001 Génisson law, which obliges companies of more than fifty employees to carry out collective bargaining on occupational equality, and also the multi-industry agreement on gender balance and gender occupational equality, which was signed by all the social partners in 2004.
Today, the law, which was adopted in 2006, is meant to be innovative in that it imposes time constraints on negotiators. It gives the social partners the job of abolishing pay gaps by the end of 2010 (in the framework of mandatory annual bargaining on pay in sectors and companies) and makes results compulsory .
The law on 'equal pay for men and women' was published in the statute book on Friday 24 March 2006. It provides for abolishing the gender pay gap via collective bargaining at company level by the 31 December 2010. The objective of the law is also to help women reconcile working and family life: consolidation of women's right to maternity leave, increased training allowances for employees who need to spend money on childcare in order to go on training outside working hours, help for small companies to replace employees on maternity or adoption leave. The law also provides for promoting women's access to vocational training and apprenticeships. For example, the law provides for an increase in the training allowance when employees have to spend more on childcare.
After the tripartite social conference, which was organised by the government on 26 November 2007, a three-stage plan of action was adopted in order to absorb pay gaps in shorter periods of time:
The first stage - in 2008 – concerned improving the diagnostic instrument used as a basis pour negotiating occupational equality, namely the comparative situation report (rapport de situation comparée, RSC); the second stage – in 2009 – aims at intensifying the bargaining process in both sectors and companies; the third stage of this plan provides for introducing a financial penalty for companies that have not submitted to the département-level department of work, labour and vocational training (direction départementale du travail, de l’emploi et de la formation professionnelle) a plan for abolishing the gender pay gap by 31 December 2010, along with the opinion of the works council.
We can say now that the phase of redefining the indicators for comparative situation reports including differentiations in line with company size was long. Gradually, their content has been partly reduced – even for the biggest companies – to adding a limited number of indicators to those included in companies' traditional annual social balance sheets.
2.3. Please illustrate the main initiatives by the government to address the gender pay gap since 2005 in the public sector. Here the government acts as the employer and can intervene more directly, even if often the rules on compensation leave less room for pay differentials.
These initiatives can include:
- Quota-systems in managerial positions
- Special training/support to women’s career
- Mandatory equality plans for the public administrations
- Special pay policies for low-paid occupations where female employment is particularly high (e.g. higher than average pay increases)
The implementation of occupational gender equality and equal pay concerns both the public and private sectors. The only sector where French law has made 'quotas' mandatory is in the political sphere, namely with its laws on parity, especially that of June 2000, which aims at promoting equal access of women and men to electoral mandates and functions.
3. Social partner initiatives to address the gender pay gap
3.1. In light of the current economic crisis, have the social partners, whether unilaterally or jointly, taken any steps to assess and monitor the impact of the current economic downturn on gender pay inequalities? If yes, please briefly illustrate them, including the results of such assessment. Have the social partners started any initiatives to prevent or address the possible widening of the gender pay gap because of the economic downturn?
Since the beginning of the economic crisis in France, French trade union organisations have not introduced a strategy more specifically centred on women and their place in the labour market: their efforts concern the position of employees in general, men and women. However, occupational gender equality remains a strong issue for reflection in unions.
3.2. Please indicate whether the gender pay gap has figured prominently on the trade union agenda since 2005. Have the trade unions initiated in this period any specific initiatives to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such initiatives.
For instance, these could include:
- Awareness-raising campaigns
- Starting organising efforts targeted at low-paid occupations/sector where female employment is particularly high
- Including the issue of the gender pay gap in collective bargaining rounds
- Training initiatives to fight gender segregation
The General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) published a gender equality charter in June 2007. In this document, it undertakes to 'reconsider the way it functions so that women play their full role in the trade union confederation, including at the highest level of responsibility'. The CGT wants to 'introduce new non-sexist internal culture based on gender mainstreaming'. This charter's plan of action is composed of various measures: drawing up gendered statistics regarding union members and officers of each affiliated union, maintaining parity at the level of the confederation, achieving significant progress towards fair representation of women at all decision-making levels, reducing the number of elected positions held by individuals, promoting equality/gender balance groups, making it possible for women to access positions of responsibility by setting up concrete help, and so forth. Moreover, various forms of action have been taken both internally and externally: union education on equality, conferences and campaigns.
The General Confederation of Labour – Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail - Force Ouvrière, CGT-FO) demands real equal pay for women and men. It expects the authorities to implement existing laws, namely the Roudy law (1983), the Génisson law (2001) and the one adopted on 23 March 2006, which lays down 31 December 2010 as the time limit for mandatory annual pay bargaining, definitively abolishing the pay gap, and demands that all recalcitrant bosses serve one year in prison and/or pay a fine of €3,750.
The French Democratic Federation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) is actively involved in the issue of occupational equality, notably in an ESF project (Occupational equality and trade union practice) (Égalité professionnelle et pratique syndicale). The CFDT made a number of proposals during the tripartite conference on occupational equality and equal pay, most of which were accepted by a majority. At the same time, the CFDT has embarked on bargaining in the sectors, following the example of the metal industry. On 15 November 2006, the CFDT signed (along with the CGT and the FO) an agreement on occupational equality in the banking sector. Besides abolishing pay gaps by 2010, the agreement highlights equal treatment that is essential at all stages of careers, from training to promotion. In the CFDT's view, collective bargaining on occupational equality must be pursued both at sector- and company-levels. On 8 March 2008, the CFDT also launched a big national survey on 'work in question' (le travail en question, TEQ) amongst employees.
The French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC), in recent years, has concentrated essentially on the glass ceiling and instruments that need to be used in order to 'shatter' it, notably with the introduction in 2005 of a project on gender balance, equality and quality of life at work (mixité, égalité, qualité de vie au travail, MEQ), which has made it possible to train more than 7,000 union activists. Thus, the CFTC highlights the results of the survey carried out by the IFA /Orse / EuropeanPWN-Paris, according to which French women employees still have difficulty in imposing themselves and remain under-represented on boards of major companies (9% of seats). In the view of the Ugica-CFTC, these figures highlight the persistence of occupational gender inequality, because the 23 March 2006 law on equal pay had attempted to improve the situation by demanding a maximum proportion of 80% of board members of the same gender on management and supervisory boards of private and public sector companies. However, this measure was censured by a decision of the Constitutional Council (Conseil constitutionnel) made on 16 March 2006, quoting the equality principle laid down in the declaration of 1789. According to the Ugica-CFTC, the government should adopt binding measures on companies in order to put an end to such unacceptable discrimination.
The French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff – General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l’encadrement – confederation générale des cadres, CFE-CGC expects existing laws to be applied subject to 'positive' financial penalties. The CFE-CGC proposed that 'bad pupils pay for good ones'. Fines would be placed in a specific fund which would serve as financial incentives for companies that make deliberate innovative initiatives in the area of occupational equality. Moreover, the CFE-CGC has proposed the creation of a guide to help drawing up and analysing comparative situation reports, thus at last making it possible to turn them into real instruments for diagnosis, management and corrective measures. The CFE-CGC has made proposals on all structural issues that will make it possible to make progress on occupational equality: career guidance, basic education and vocational training, recruitment and promotion, part-time employment, maternity leave, family leave, work-life balance and mobility.
3.3. Please indicate whether the gender pay gap has figured prominently on the employer associations agenda since 2005. Have the main employer associations initiated in this period any specific initiatives to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such initiatives.
For instance, these could include:
- Awareness-raising campaigns
- Training initiatives to support the career development of women
- Fighting gender stereotypes
- Dissemination of diversity management practices
The president of the Movement of French Enterprises ( Mouvement des entreprises de France, MEDEF), Laurence Parisot, stated that, concerning occupational gender equality, 'the MEDEF is totally involved in the battle for occupational gender equality, but also in that concerning fair and true representation of companies and the way they function'. In a statement, the MEDEF warned against a totally erroneous interpretation of a survey carried out by the Dares in 2005 and published on 30 July 2009 on gender-biased recruitment by companies. 'According to the survey data themselves, it is wrong to say that '70% of employers prefer recruiting a man than a woman' as much of the media indicated. In fact, the study above all indicates that almost 72% of employers say that they are indifferent to the gender of the people they recruit. Certainly, amongst the 28% who are not, the majority prefer to recruit a man rather than a woman.
3.4. Please indicate whether multi-employer collective bargaining has contributed to address the gender pay gap since 2005. Has multi-employer collective bargaining introduced specific clauses or instruments to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such clauses or instruments.
For instance, these could include:
- Information disclosure rights on wage differentials
- The establishment of joint committees and observatories or other forms of joint cooperation on pay equity
- Joint statements on equal pay or gender equality in employment in general
- Special pay increases for occupations where female employment is particularly high
- Revision of job classification systems to detect and eliminate discriminatory pay gaps
- Special training, mentoring and other measures to support women’s career (including for women re-entering employment after maternity)
- Special work-life balance arrangements to support the career development of women
Article L. 2241-3 of the labour code makes it mandatory for organisations linked by sector or occupational agreements to negotiate every three years on measures that aim at ensuring gender equality. Above all, mandatory annual bargaining (négociation annuelle obligatoire, NAO) on pay also aims at programming measures for abolishing any gender pay gap by 31 December 2010 on the basis of a shared diagnosis based on a sector-level report. Any representative organisation can demand the opening of bargaining on the topic within 15 days, and - in the absence of an agreement on equal pay or minutes of disagreement that contain the last version of proposals made by the parties concerned – a mixed joint commission will be convened on the initiative of the minister responsible for work, in order for negotiations to start.
However, no penalty is envisaged to sanction non-respect of this obligation to negotiate, whereas a specific penalty exists regarding bargaining on vocational training.
But the principle of equal pay is one of the mandatory clauses that national collective agreements (conventions collectives nationales, CCN) must include in order for it to be possible to extend them (law adopted on 11 February 1950 and the law adopted on 23 March 2006).
At the end of 2008, the majority of sectors had concluded agreements or embarked on negotiations, but 69 sectors, i.e. 43% had still not started the bargaining process. 2008 was marked by a certain speeding up of bargaining on the topic of occupational gender equality and especially on equal pay: 19 specific agreements were signed (compared with nine in 2007 and only one in 2006) and 34 agreements refer to it (compared with 24 in 2007 and 18 in 2006). However, out of a total of 1,082 sector-level agreements signed in 2008, only 54 deal with occupational equality, i.e. 5%. The majority of agreements negotiated in 2008 emphasise the need to abolish unjustified gender pay gaps by the 31 December 2010, but the nature of their content varies considerably. Indeed, the majority of the agreements simply recall the principle of 'equal pay for equal work'. Some emphasise the need to reduce and abolish pay gaps in line with the law adopted in March 2006 and the majority of sectors refer to the terms of that law concerning equal pay and leave measuring the gaps and introducing measures to companies.
3.5. Please indicate whether single-employer collective bargaining and social dialogue practices at company level have contributed to address the gender pay gap since 2005. Has single-employer collective bargaining introduced specific clauses or instruments to address the gender pay gap at company level? Please illustrate the most important of such clauses or instruments.
For instance, these could include:
- Information disclosure rights on compensation systems and wage differentials
- The establishment of joint committees and observatories or other forms of joint cooperation on pay equity
- Special pay increases for jobs where female employment is particularly high
- Revision of job classification systems to detect and eliminate discriminatory pay gaps
- Special training, mentoring and other measures to support women’s career (including for women re-entering employment after maternity)
- Special work-life balance arrangements to support the career development of women
- Initiatives on equal pay or gender equality in employment in general at EWC level
Two sources of information make it possible to quantify the number of company-level agreements:
- the ACEMO (DARES) survey on 'bargaining and employee representation',
- analysis of administrative data collected by départemental-level departments of labour, employment and vocational training (directions départementales du travail, de l’emploi et de la formation professionnelle, DDTEFP).
The 2007 Acemo annual survey shows that 9% of companies with 10 or more employees that signed at least one collective agreement in 2007 tackled the issue of 'occupational equality and/or non-discrimination' in the text(s) that were signed. Administrative data provide information about the number and content of the agreements. They show the same trends as the Acemo survey even if the scales are not the same, as the sources are different. The increase in the number of agreements on occupational equality seems to continue as 0.4% of agreements tackled occupational equality in 2002 and 5.2% in 2008. This progress in terms of agreements is to be observed above all in big companies.
3.6. Has the issue of the gender pay gap been particularly important in certain sectors? If yes, please indicate the sectors involved (up to three), the main reasons of such relevance and its most significant expressions and achievements (up to three for each sector - unilateral actions by employers or unions, joint initiatives, collective bargaining).
The 'preparatory report for consultations with social partners on occupational gender equality' (Rapport préparatoire à la concertation avec les partenaires sociaux sur l’égalité professionnelle entre les hommes et les femmes), which was drawn up by Brigitte Grésy and published in July 2009, informs about a sectoral analysis of agreements, which gives the prize to the banking and insurance sector with 22% of the agreements. Then comes the sector that manufactures cars / planes / equipment (17.6%), energy (13.8%) and public and social bodies (8.2%) (Orse, 2008).
However, the contents of agreements are very heterogeneous. Agreements on unequal pay do not escape such heterogeneity. Thus, more than half of specific agreements do not give explicit information on gender pay gaps and some consider that a diagnosis of any such pay gaps cannot be made. Almost a third of specific agreements note that there are no unjustified gaps and that the gaps can be explained by structural differences that are independent of company policy. Moreover, many agreements mention the difficulty of drawing up a diagnosis and refer to socio-cultural perceptions and behaviour related to conditions outside the company. The problem of the lack of gender balance of jobs and positions is often strongly referred to (Brigitte Grésy, July 2009).
4. Good practices
4.1. Since 2005, have there been any major initiatives to identify, collect and disseminate good practices on equal pay or more generally on gender equality in employment?
If yes, please illustrate:
- who started such initiatives (the government, the social partners jointly, unions or employer associations, individual employers, researchers, etc.),
- the main good practices identified by this exercise (up to three),
- where they were originated (public sector, private sector, public policies, collective bargaining, unilateral action, etc.) and
- whether and to what extent the dissemination efforts have been successful.
For several years already, companies and sectors are mobilised on the issue of occupational gender equality. By March 2009, at least 200 company agreements had been concluded specifically on this issue and 46 companies (employing a total of 715,232 employees) have been awarded the ‘Equality Label’.
In order to obtain this Label, the company must meet certain requirements: action must be taken in companies promoting occupational equality and also there must be help regarding parenthood in the context of one's paid work.
A Commission for awarding Labels (Commission de labellisation), composed of an equal number of representatives of the State, trade unions and employers' organisations, give a majority opinion, on the basis of which the AFNOR certification body makes a decision as to whether to award or refuse the label.
The Equality Label should serve as an indicator of companies that are innovative in their approach to gender equality. It must reward exemplary practices. Since 10 March 2005 - the date when the first labels were awarded - a growing number of companies in such varied sectors as electronics, transport, insurance, communications and so forth have thus made efforts to obtain it.
A Club of companies which have been awarded the Label was created in October 2006. It is run by an association called Arborus and meets every three months in a different company each time, in order to promote exchanges of good practices regarding occupational equality.
Among the examples of good practices, BNP-Paribas can be quoted. It introduced a corrective measure regarding pay gaps. This measure is applied if a pay gap is observed between two employees, whose occupational situation is comparable. A budget of €1 million was devoted to this process of catching up in 2008 and has been renewed in 2009. Another company, Radio France, introduced a series of measures on training (it undertakes to ensure that the percentage of women and men in training that leads to diplomas and in periods of professionalisation respect the proportion of men and women in the company. It also undertakes to promote decentralised training and implement a 10% increase in the training allowance for employees who have additional childcare expenses. Radio France proposes to use positive action regarding recruitment, training and mobility in cases of observed imbalance in fields and occupations and also to take corrective measures in cases of observed imbalance in external recruitment regarding the existing distribution of men and women at the end of the educational and training system for each occupation. As for promotions, care will be given to ensure that the proportion of women be respected regarding access to supervisory positions in line with the requirements of the vacancy. Finally, the benefit for looking after children under 3 years has been increased by 3%; the same goes for the ceiling applied to this benefit.
Another example of implementing a policy of occupational gender equality within a company is the case of HSBC France, which is continuing its policy promoting the reduction of pay gaps between women and men, and is devoting a budget of €2 million to the implementation of pay equity in 2009. This budget represents eight times that registered in the pay agreement in 2008. HSBC will thus have devoted more than €3 million to reducing the pay gap since 2004.
5. Commentary
5.1. Please provide your own assessment and comments on the initiatives to address the gender pay gap covered by this comparative study, including any further information that you consider important to illustrate the state-of-play of pay equity in your country.
More than 30 years after the first French laws on occupational equality, new initiatives taken on this issue in France (namely the law on equal pay and the tripartite social conference organised by the government in 2007), show that gender equality does not yet exist in the labour market. The situation of women in the labour market has certainly improved: they are gradually becoming 'equal' with men. However, many inequalities persist: very great occupational segregation,, persisting great unequal pay, over-representation of women in part-time jobs, still a major glass ceiling, women's unemployment rates and length of unemployment remain significantly greater than men's, and so forth.
The issue of occupational equality is worthy in France of new dynamics, above all in companies, which are increasing differential treatment of men and women (Paihlé, Solaz, 2009).
Christèle Meilland, Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES)