Equal pay for men and women players
Recently India has become the second country in the world to implement equal pay for men and women players in international cricket. The first such country is New Zealand.
Pay parity means ensuring that equal remuneration is paid to employees doing similar nature of work in the same place. This payment should be made without discrimination on the basis of their gender or ethnicity.
Gender-based salary difference in India:
- India is ranked 135th out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index
- According to the World Inequality Report 2022, men account for 82 per cent of the labor income in India. In contrast, women receive only 18%.
Reasons for difference in pay-
- Lack of representation in leadership: There are fewer women in management and leadership, especially at higher levels.
- Being out of the workforce: Women are more likely to take career breaks to raise children or care for the elderly.
- Linking certain jobs to women only: Because of gender stereotypes, certain types of employment are considered primarily women-only. Because of this, the work of these women is underestimated during the fixation of wages.
- Discrimination in Education: Sometimes girls are kept out of school or forced to drop out of school.
Efforts to repeal discrimination in wages based on gender-
- Article 39(d) of the Constitution provides that men and women should have equal pay for equal work.
- Laws like Minimum Wages Act- 1948, Equal Remuneration Act- 1976 and Wages Code- 2019 have been made.
- Studies show that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has helped reduce wage discrimination based on gender.
- The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 has extended the period of ‘Maternity Leave with Pay Security’ for all women working in establishments having 10 or more employees.
- Globally: The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Equal Remuneration Convention and the formation of the Equal Pay International Coalition led by the ILO have been major initiatives.
Source – The Hindu
