Pay inequality worries G20 countries

Gender Equality and the Promotion of Diversity in the World of Work were the themes of the first round of debates of the 2nd Technical Meeting of the G20 Working Group on Employment, which takes place today (27th) and tomorrow (28th), in Brasilia. Although progress has been made towards a more inclusive world of work in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation, there is still a long way to go to actually mitigate the discrimination that persists. The solution to this is to continue investing in public policies of inclusion for minorities.

The advisor for Social Participation and Diversity at the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), Anatalina Lourenço da Silva, brought wage differences to the center of the discussions when analyzing race and gender. According to her, in Brazil, the median admission salary of a black woman is R$ 1,556.00, which corresponds to 82% of the general average, which is R$ 1,901.00. Non-black men, on the other hand, earn 19% more than this amount.

To combat these inequalities in the country, Anatalina pointed out that the current government has published the Equal Pay Law, reinforcing its commitment to combating discrimination in the world of work. "We point to decent work, equal pay for men and women, expansion of care policies for those who care, and participation in politics proportional to the number of women in the government's Censuses. It is with great joy that we announce to the world that Brazil returns to the world stage in this perspective", argued Anatalina.

The participation of women in the labour market was the topic addressed by the executive head of UNESCO, Mariagrazia Squicciarini. She pointed out that there is an equal proportion of men and women entering the labor market, however, career progression is not equal. "When you get to the top positions, there are fewer women. We need to think about solutions to these differences carefully," he said.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) brought the LGBTQI+ issue and the racial issue to the debate. According to the Director of the OECD's Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (OECD),

Stefano Scarpetta, the traditional labour market has struggled to understand these differences, but the G20 has made progress on these sensitive issues. He pointed out that the legislation of the countries that are part of the OECD has improved a lot in the area and that there is support for the gender agenda. "However, there are still wage differences, which impact these minority groups," he points out.

G20 entrepreneurship advisor Qing SU pointed out that in China the issue of income equality between women and men has improved a lot, but there are still disadvantages for women.