If we consider the wage gap between men and women in France in 2020, women are symbolically no longer being paid at that date and time.
According to Eurostat, this pay gap rises to 15.5% this year compared to 15.4% in 2019. This represents a loss of 39.2 working days of paid work. This figure has been stagnating for five years and does not seem to be decreasing even though the government wanted it to be reduced over this five-year period.
Since March 2019, all companies with more than 250 employees must calculate and publish their gender equality index every year. Since March 2020, companies with 50 to 250 employees also need to comply with their gender equality index. However, this index does not have a real informative value as it is calculated by companies themselves, who may find unofficial ways to avoid a bad index value.
The collective Les Glorieuses, at the head of this wage gap denunciation, has launched a petition to ask for a "feminist economic recovery plan". This plan includes 5 proposals:
1. To give access to public contracts, public subsidies and state-guaranteed loans conditional on the respect of equal pay within the structure of the company.
2. Strengthen the gender equality index by creating a mandatory corporate equality certificate
3. To enhance the wages of jobs in which women are more numerous
4. Include women in decisions about the recovery plan
5. Support paternity leave equal to maternity leave
According to one of their survey conducted in October among 7260 people, including a majority of women, 98% of women and 88% of men consider it "shameful" that women are paid less than men. 72% of the men surveyed would be willing to share their pay to advance equal pay and bridge the gap.
If everyone agrees that pay inequalities should not exist, why aren't things moving forward?