Salary gap is 19.3% during the pandemic

The year 2022 has just begun and labor and salary inequalities between men and women continue to be one of the great challenges that we must face as a society. “For every S/ 100 that a man earns in Peru, a woman earns S/ 0.7″, says Natalia Manso, a professor at the Pacífico Business School.

This type of situation is due to the fact that women dedicate about 40 hours a week to domestic service, compared to the 15 hours that men spend, says the director of the Forge Foundation, Maria Jose Gomez.

“When you dedicate 40 hours to domestic work, you have very little left for formal employment, the hours do not add up. Women who have children look for jobs that allow them to care for their children and work part-time jobs, informal jobs, weekend jobs. (…) If you have a family, time is not enough,” says Gómez.

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Likewise, Gómez affirms that men have to begin to take charge of family care so that women can do what men do, “which is to develop their professional career.”

Natalia Manso, from the Pacific Business School, explains that another of the reasons behind this imbalance in employment is that there is a higher proportion of Peruvian women with part-time jobs (43%), compared to their male peers (26%).

“The unbalanced distribution of unpaid domestic work and the radical closure of schools and nurseries have deepened this situation during the pandemic”, need Manso.

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Wage gap

Added to this high percentage of labor informality is the salary gap, which places Peru in position 129 of the 152 countries evaluated by the Index Global Gender Gap 2021 made by him World Economic Forum.

For Manso there is an average wage gap of 19.3%, which is not homogeneous throughout the Peruvian territory, with Moquegua being the region with the greatest difference (48.9%), followed by Arequipa (33.7%). and Cajamarca (33.6%). By contrast, this inequality is lower in Huancavelica (1.5%), Huánuco (8.1%), being even favorable to women in the case of Loreto (-4.6%) (see infographic).

Outlook for 2022

Women are half of the human talent of Peru and the world. “That is why gender parity has a huge impact on economic growth, competitiveness and the future of companies,” says Manso.

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It also adds that companies with more women in leadership positions show better performance.

Companies that have at least 30% female presence in senior positions have 15% more benefits than those with lower rates of female executive presence, according to a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics that investigates the impact of diversity of gender in companies.

With a view to a 2022 with smaller wage and labor gaps, the specialists highlight the actions that must be implemented.

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Maria Jose Gomez, of the Forge Foundation, considers that a national quality care policy should be developed to provide care during the State of Emergency. “The schools are closed, the centers for the elderly are still closed because there is a high risk of contagion, but spaces are undoubtedly needed to guarantee the protocols against COVID-19″.

In addition, he stressed the need to promote economic programs aimed at women to stimulate employment and encourage their participation in the economic reactivation.

Manso states that the Government must promote equality by promoting the active participation of men in household responsibilities. “From a practical point of view, the strengthening of care networks should be a priority, together with the development of a serious national policy that addresses both child care and assistance services for the elderly or people with disabilities,” he says.

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gender inequalities

In 2021, inequality between men and women in Latin America and the Caribbean, reflected in the burden of family care on women and the lower dynamism of sectors that concentrate female employment, according to the Preliminary Balance of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2021.

Likewise, in the same year, more than 38% of the jobs occupied by women that were destroyed during the crisis were not recovered. In the case of men, this number was 21%.

In 2020 and 2021, unemployment and the fall in labor participation affected women more in households with the presence of children under five years of age (due to the greater burden of care).

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reactions

Natalia Manso, professor at Pacific Business School

“The unbalanced distribution of unpaid domestic work and the radical closure of schools and nurseries have deepened this situation during the pandemic.”

María José Gómez, director of the Forge Foundation

“There needs to be national centers with high quality, which can guarantee the protocols against COVID-19 and greater assistance. This is part of a national care policy”.