How to close the gender pay gap

“...I don’t believe in the gender pay gap!” the person who shall remain nameless declared.

Dude. It’s not like Santa.

Actually, my nameless pal is not alone. According to the ProCopywriters Survey (an annual survey of the copywriting profession), 38% of men and 21% of women think gender does not impact pay. A further 40% of each gender said they didn’t know.

But that same survey exposed the pay gap to be as much as 29% amongst some sectors of the copywriting community.


That’s right. Even in today’s Britain, the gender pay gap is very real. It’s real across industries, it’s real across age groups and it’s real across levels of seniority. It’s real whether you’re an employee or a freelancer or a business owner.

According to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the highest female earners take home just £0.67 for every £1.00 the best paid men do.

People of colour will statistically experience pay inequality more severely than their white counterparts. This year, only 13 of the FTSE 100 companies revealed their ethnicity pay gap. The latest official figures from the ONS from 2019 show a gap of 2.3% nationally, rising as high as 23.8% in London.


The pay gap pandemic

In March 2020, the world succumbed to a global pandemic. For those people who already had it pretty shit, things got a lot shitter.

Women hold the majority of the world's low-paid positions. It’s estimated that 200 million of these jobs disappeared in the first three months of the pandemic alone.

Look at the UK, where traditionally ‘male’ sectors like property were allowed back to work whilst many workers in the beauty industry had to wait months to start earning again. It’s estimated that 17% of women suffered from the shutdown of their sector compared to 13% of men.

The UN has warned of “a prolonged dip in women’s incomes and labour force participation” because of COVID-19. Toni Van Pelt, former president of the National Organization for Women warned, “With a depleted job market, men who were in other, more lucrative industries may compete for roles traditionally filled by women.” 

This means women face an uphill battle just to maintain the current pay gap, never mind starting to reduce it.


Unpaid labour

It’s impossible to discuss fair pay without looking at life beyond the workplace. Women’s unpaid domestic labour is worth an estimated £140 billion to the British economy every year. (What if there was an economic model that rewarded this? Another post for another time.)

The UN says that pre-COVID, women did three times as much domestic work as men. Since COVID, Rachel Cable of Oxfam Cymru says that women are shouldering an even greater proportion of unpaid work to the detriment of their professional lives.

Maybe they’re working part-time around domestic responsibilities or they’ve foregone the luxury of staying late to nail that promotion-worthy presentation to pick up the kids. Post-pandemic, women have less time to commit to their jobs and fewer chances to close that gap.


The mental load

There’s one more contributing factor to the state of fair pay: the mental load. (If you’re new to this concept, this comic sums it up brilliantly.)

The mental load describes the unspoken to-do lists, dates and plans many women juggle every day to keep their family, team or friendship group ticking over. Things like buying a birthday card for Aunty Janet. Organising cakes for a colleague’s leaving do. Coordinating their family’s hectic schedule of ballet lessons, Spanish classes and play dates.

If women didn’t have to expend so much energy doing society’s social admin, what could they achieve?


What can you do about it?

Back to that ProCopywriters Survey. Compared to a 29% pay gap amongst agency copywriters, the wage discrepancy between male and female freelance copywriters drops to 4%. Why? Likely because as freelancers, we set our own rates and we talk more openly and frequently about what we get paid.

This is bloody good news, (well, it’s shit news, but there is a positive angle) it means we have the power to reduce the gap.

So, here are some small changes we can make in our professional lives to level out those payslips/invoices.

  1. Talk honestly about what you earn and take opportunities to participate in surveys and conversations about rates, especially if you aren’t freelance.

  2. Help the up-and-comers in your industry. Mentor, coach, train.

  3. Fund training programmes for female students and graduates. Fund internet access for women in developing nations.

  4. If you’re offered a job that’s better suited to a woman, e.g. one that requires knowledge of the female experience, turn it down.

  5. Amplify the voices of women in your industry. Writing a list of recommended people to follow on social media? Represent women.

  6. Actively encourage others to do the same. Refuse to sit on all-male and all-white boards, panels, focus groups and events.

  7. If you’re in a position to, hire women. And pay them the same as men.

  8. Hire based on talent and potential, not proof and experience. It’s possible that a woman hasn’t had access to the experiences a man has but is no less capable of doing the job.


What’s your experience of the pay gap, gender or otherwise? Let me know in the comments or chat to me on LinkedIn.

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