This week we have had confirmation that women are paid less for the same work (Gender pay gap means women ‘working for free from now until 2017’, 10 November) and bear the burden of unpaid work like childcare and housework (Doing the chores valued at £1tn a year in the UK, 10 November). Sadly this is a problem that affects women all around the world. ActionAid estimates that women in developing countries could be $9tn better off – more than the combined GDPs of Britain, France and Germany – if their pay and access to paid work were equal to that of men.
Women are penalised by the expectation that they will do the majority of caring work and are either absent from the workforce or in lower-paid, part-time jobs. As a result women can’t access opportunities on a level playing field and receive less reward for the work they do. It isn’t fair and it isn’t right. If women’s work is to be recognised, rewarded and valued in its entirety – from caring for families and communities, to toiling long hours on the factory floor – we need concerted action to tackle the gender pay gap and the discrimination that gives rise to it.
Sarah Carson
Women’s Rights campaign manager, ActionAid UK
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