Equal Pay and Gender Mainstreaming:

The Case of Estonia

Anu LaasEqual pay and gender mainstreaming:

Monitoring the European employment strategySeminar. ETUI, Brussels, November 18-19,

2002

Case of Estonia

Content

I. Gender pay gap in Estonia.Changes during the transition period

II. National policies to tackle unequal payIII. The impact of the EESIV. Policies from a gender mainstreaming perspectiveV. Policy recommendations

I. Gender pay gap in Estonia

Changes during the transition period

Case of Estonia

Share of women’s hourly wage out of men’s hourly gross wage, 1994 and 2000 (%)

Case of Estonia

7176

80

61

87

64 66

74

84

7475 7671 71

78

68

91

84

91

75

50

60

70

80

90

100

1994 2000

Case of Estonia

Gender pay gap for same job

University of Tartu

Women got less paid appr 25%, wage desire also lower

Gross wage income in September 1998 and desired monthly salary by sex (index 1,0 = 3518 EEK or 258 USD, an average monthly salary before taxes in September 1998 at University of Tartu, all respondents, N=695)

Case of Estonia

0,0

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

Men, UT IX'98

Women, UT IX´'98

Men, total IX'98

Women, total IX'98

Men, dream '98

Women, dream '98

Case of Estonia

Female work in 2001

about every fifth woman is employed in professional jobs (70,3% - female work – F)

the next out of five is technician or associate professional (70,7% - F)

every fifth woman is working in sales or services (79,3% - F)

Case of Estonia

Low pay

Low pay is a serious social problem Sometimes there is low pay +

informal pay (lack of data) In agriculture is low pay and smallest

gender gap from one side salaries near to minimum, from other side farmers do not pay salaries to themselves (some social tax paid)

Case of Estonia

Low pay cont.

Many women are self employed No data by sex, 2 registers Commercial Register has about 20,000,

tax offices about 40,000 Many self employed people pay only

social tax actually not enough compensation in case of sick leave and low pension is expected

Case of Estonia

Low pay cont.

Unions are negotiating a minimum wage (annually)

Employers organisations’ voice is strong and they say: we are starting to loose our competitive advantage

Case of Estonia

Retail and whole sale are overcrowded Lack of business ideas self

employment in sales and servicesLow investment skills and powerThe highest gender pay gap between

service workers and shop and market sales workers, but gap has diminished

out of ten - eight women out of women - every fifth woman

Case of Estonia

Speculations

Many women ready to work in sales Many small shops, high uncertainty

and employer’s insecurity Lack of cash - informal salary People are divided to small and

fragmented collectives – no unions No unions and collective actions –

insecurity of employees

Case of Estonia

Employed persons aged 15-69 by type

of ownership, 1989-2001 (%)

75,873,3

69

61,2

52,5

45,6

38,8 36,9

31,4 30,7 30,828,528,5

24,226,7

31

38,8

47,5

54,4

61,2 63,1

68,6 69,3 69,271,571,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Public sector Private sector

Case of Estonia

How the economic transition influenced the gender pay gap?

Rapid restructuring of Estonian economyImbalance in labour demand and supplyPay differences between women and

men in late 1980s, beginning of the 1990s about 18-20%, in 1994 – 29%, in 2000 - 25%

Gendered outcome: gender pay gap has increased during the transition period

II. National policies to tackle unequal pay

Case of Estonia

Main National policies to tackle unequal pay before and  after the EES

To what extent these policies follow a gender mainstreaming approach?

Case of Estonia

Before EES

Silence Gender issues raised on national

level after Beijing (1995) Small talk on gender issues Statements: Women earn less than

men. It is normal. Everybody knows. No debates on gender pay gap

III. The impact of the EES

National Action Plan for employment 2002 (NAP)

Case of Estonia

NAP gives anonymous promises

in 2001-2003 a strategy and methods will be worked out to integrate gender equality into the areas of employment and occupational life

strengthening of the policy to guarantee equal opportunities for women and men is one of the priority activities

Case of Estonia

NAP

about gender pay gap is not a word about gender pay gap is not a word about gender pay gap is not a word

Case of Estonia

Women in labour market

High women’s employment rate In 2001, employment rate for women

aged 15-74 was 50,7% and for working age women 62,5%

Lack of choices – women’s income needed

Individual agreements - low salaries

Case of Estonia

Employment rate of women by age group

64,9

76

88,692,8

96,3

49,5

64,6

75,8

82,6 82,9

44,4

62,565,4

76,8

81,9

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44

1989 1995 2001

Case of Estonia

Employment rate by sex and age group, 1989 (%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-69

70-74

Males Females

Case of Estonia

Employment rate by sex and age group, 2001 (%)

0

10

20

30

4050

60

70

80

90

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-69

70-74

Males Females

Case of Estonia

Unemployment rate

6,57,3

10,5 10,610,1

10,8

13,5

14,6

13

6,6

7,98,9 9,2 9,2 8,9

10,9

12,7 12,3

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Males Females

Case of Estonia

Gender awareness of unequal pay

Publication by the Ministry of Social Affairs ‘Guidelines for equal pay for equal work to men and women’

Distributed: (1) public agencies (2) NGOs Society values success, social exclusion

people perceive pay problem as personal one (low pay I am inflexible, failed)

Case of Estonia

Statistical monitoring of unequal pay: statistics

Statistical Office of Estonia (SOE) adoption of the statistical acquis continuous Labour Force Survey, Household

Budget Survey, Time Use Survey web-based statistical database: www.stat.ee hourly wages by ISCO (annually in October)

lack of gender sensitive data by branch of economy and lack of data from microenterprises

Case of Estonia

Gender research

Courses in two universities Marginal area, no degree program

available No systematic courses to officials and

educators (preschool and school teachers) Applied gender research is often gender

blind

Case of Estonia

No pressure, no need, no activities

Labour laws are good, not implemented People accept conservative gender

ideology Women who struggle against societal

values stay alone against media and public opinion

Only opinion leaders can have ‘strange views’ on women and men in society

Case of Estonia

Marju Lauristin (MP)

Surveys and statistics show that

Estonia is a society, which is adapting very slowly to the understandings and relations to the modern world.

Case of Estonia

Toomas Hendrik Ilves (MP)

I am a bit worried, my honoured colleagues! It seems me that men will decide among themselves what are women’s rights.

I do not believe that it is good for our state that our men decide what women can do and what they cannot, when women are discriminated and they are not.

Case of Estonia

Ilves about Gender Equality Act

It is drafted to avoid these thousands of cases, where a woman gets less paid for same job. A woman is not hired, because she can get pregnant.

A woman is fired the first when there is a need to choose among male and female employees. It is very practical problem, which many people facing in Estonia.

Case of Estonia

Empowerment of women’s movement

About 200 women’s organisations – cooperation on national level weak (like clubs in 1989-2000). In 2002 support to CEDAW shadow report and to draft Gender Equality Act

Weakness: low income low enthusiasm and voluntary work

Leadership skills and capacity building Consensus building

Case of Estonia

Empowerment of labour market players: ministries

Employment and labour market policy: Ministry of Social Affairs

Estonian Labour Market Board Labour Inspectorate (supervision,

monitoring)Enterprise policy: Ministry of Economics Enterprise Estonia – agencies and

measures (some pay attention to women)

Case of Estonia

Empowerment of labour market players: unions

Two dominant confederations, divided between private and public sectors

Union density 15% in Estonia, same in Lithuania, Poland Spain (Latvia 30%, Slovenia 41%)

Strong myth that gender gap in public sector does not exist (gap is lower, it’s true)

Case of Estonia

Private and public sector unions

EAKL – Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions

Federation of Estonian Health Care Professionals Unions - more than 3000

members Union of textile industry employees - 5000 members

TALO - Professional Union of Civil Servants

Case of Estonia

Priority areas in EAKL Action Plan more and better jobs for women gender issues in collective bargaining equal pay for work of equal value access for women to promotion gender awareness for men and women

union members and employers combating violence against women at work life-long education for women

Case of Estonia

Target group: all members

In hotel: ‘Our sauna is unisex, towels needed in order to respect other users.’

EAKL accepts importance of equal treatment principle

EAKL negotiates minimum wages on national level and by industry and qualification

EAKL is active in collective bargaining and monitors collective agreements

Case of Estonia

No complaints on a basis of sex

EAKL: No complaints about unfair wages and unequal treatment on a basis of sex

EAKL staff is aware about gender pay gap Real problem and complaints due to low

pay Vital interest of members is higher salary It is true that implementation of promised

policies and principles are complicated and time consuming

IV. Policies from a gender mainstreaming

perspective

Case of Estonia

Effectiveness of these policies

Training for officials from different ministries (occasional selection, alone in ministry, no voice heard)

From other side officials know that in plans, reports, projects gender dimension should be reflected)

Case of Estonia

Policy contradictions

GM – soolise võrdõiguslikkuse süvalaiendamine (deepening & widening gender equality)

Rhetoric has learned for policy papers Conversation and text analysis shows that

gender issues are ‘uneatable’

Case of Estonia

Discourse on nature, culture and ‘poor men’

Women and men are performing their roles dedicated to them by nature.

Gender equality does not fit to Estonian society and culture.

Men live short and stressful life in Estonia and need should be protected.

Why for women?

Case of Estonia

Institutional framework

Equality Bureau since 1996 1-4 persons, small resources (mostly from

abroad), project based, dependent The Legal Chancellor (acts as

ombudsman), no gender experts among staff

Case of Estonia

Legal framework

Gender Equality Act (1999-2000 prepared by dozen experts, Dec 2001-Sept 2002 in Riigikogu)

Equality and Equal Treatment Act (April 2002 prapared by 4 persons, in Sept 2002 in Riigikogu)

Case of Estonia

Strengths and weaknesses

Some basis has createdWeak desire for equality

V. Policy recommendations

Case of Estonia

Creation of preconditions

Capacity building of Equality Bureau National strategy for improvement gender

equality Implementing existing laws and

conventions Improving legal literacy Adopting Gender Equality Act / Equality

and Equal Treatment Act

Case of Estonia

Awareness and acceptance

Introduction of gender inequality indicators and improvement of data gathering (segregated data by sex, gender research)

Public discussions about gender inequality Discussions and debates on gender pay gap Training of main socialisation agents about

gender issues

Case of Estonia

Fair pay

employment activation measures self employment and low pay

minimum pay policy development of collective bargaining

(today individual pay agreements) encourage women to ask higher pay,

teach people about wage negotiation

Case of Estonia

Soft values and quality of life

ABB in Estonia has declared: Our company is dignified employer

To recruitment offers: Equal opportunity employer