Woman managers lose on pay as they rise, shows ILO report

The gender gap in managerial pay in India is six per cent, making it one of the best performers among 49 countries, according to a new study issued by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The gap is narrower in Indonesia, the Philippines, Panama, Pakistan, Macau, Slovenia and Venezuela, but wider in advanced countries such as the UK (30 per cent), Germany (34 per cent) and Russia (31 per cent).

The survey, conducted by non-profit organisation Catalyst in 2013, covers 5,977 companies in 44 countries and draws on work done by GMR Ratings.

The disparity in the hospitality, retail and other service sectors is only eight per cent, among the lowest in 17 countries surveyed. This grows to 16 per cent among administrative managers and 26 per cent among chief executives.

However, women in India earn a third less across all economic activity, a disparity surpassed only by Austria, Ethiopia, Israel, Maldives, Pakistan, Switzerland and the UK.

The ILO says women make up less than five per cent of Indian boardrooms, and 11 of the 45 nations surveyed fared worse.

Countries with better boardroom representation for women include China (eight per cent), Indonesia (five per cent), Malaysia (about eight per cent), and the US (15 per cent), and is topped by Norway (40 per cent).

The number of women chairing boards in India has fallen from 3.8 per cent in 2009 to only over one per cent in 2013, according to a survey by GMR Ratings. In the same period, China has seen the percentage go up from 1.4-1.5 per cent to about three per cent.

The ILO also cites a study in 2012 that brings out the male bias in Indian boardrooms. It says as many as 58 per cent of the boards of companies listed on the stock exchanges are all male. The government has now made it mandatory to have at5 least a women in listed companies boards.