This is when the gender pay gap actually starts
Can you guess at what age women start earning less than men?
As the gender pay gap data revelations are all coming to a head today, companies and policymakers alike have been trying to track when gap widens between genders – but as a recent study has shown, that gap appears disappointingly early.
According to research conducted by Yasemin Besen-Cassino in her book The Cost Of Being A Girl – it’s not our older years that create the gap – for the gap is present right from the age of fourteen, reports Broadly.
By selecting a sample of teenagers, the author hoped to sample the pay gap at the least affected point possible.
“If you look at very early teens, they don’t have kids, they don’t do housework—they have the exact same experience, the exact same education,” said the author.
However, what she found was that although children and teens had been working since the age of 12, by the time they reached the age of fourteen, girls continue to freelance and boys make an average of $400 a year compared to girls’ $266.
“As we’re socializing teenagers into the workforce, one unintended consequence is that we’re socializing them into the problems of the workforce.
“We teach them that there is gender inequality when you negotiate and you don’t get [what you’re asking for], when you have a lot of unpaid hours.”
Today is the first gender pay gap reporting deadline.
The Guardian has compiled a list of all of the companies who have declared their gender pay gap.
And 6,493 companies pay men more than women, in comparison to 1,213 that pay women more than men.
According to the data, one company had stopped paying women by February 22.
The Telegraph Group has the largest gender pay gap in the media, with a 35% disparity.
NWM News Group currently shares an 85% gap in favour of women.