MUMBAI – There exists a gender pay gap of 27% in India, where men earned a median gross hourly salary of Rs 288.68, whereas women earned only a median gross salary of Rs 207.85 per hour, as per a Monster India report.
According to the latest ‘Monster Salary Index’ (MSI), the highest gender pay gap was recorded in the manufacturing sector at 34.9%. The lowest gender pay gap was recorded in the BFSI and transport, logistics, communication, equally standing at 17.7%. At a time when companies globally are striving to attain a gender balance at the workplace, a statement by Monster attributed some of the reasons behind the gender pay gap to the possible preference for male employees over female employees, preference for promotion of male employees to supervisory positions, career breaks of women due to parenthood duties and other socio-cultural factors.
Sanjay Modi, MD (India/Middle East/Southeast Asia/Hong Kong), said, “Worldwide, the lack of pay parity has taken a centre stage with strong views being shared by sports persons, political and business leaders alike. Men often receive higher salary offers than women vying for the same title in the same organization. Needless to say, the situation is far from desired in India, especially when the country is gearing towards inclusive development. While some critics may claim that this gender pay gap is simply due to the choices women make – occupation, family, or education level, but that could not be further from the truth. Today we recognize Equal Pay Day, a day that symbolically represents when a woman’s salary finally catches up to what a man was paid in the previous year.
But the task at hand is the pace at which this pay gap can be bridged. There is a strong need to create equal opportunities for all, particularly women, who are key contributors in the Indian job market.”
The company said MSI is aimed at empowering jobseekers by establishing a benchmark to compare their salaries with other anonymous profiles across a broad spectrum of industry domains, experience, functional groups both in India and other global markets.
