Equal Pay Day on March 6th makes it clear once again: There are still salary differences between men and women in Germany. On average, women’s hourly wages are 18 percent lower than men’s. If you exclude factors such as career choice and only compare the same work, there is still a gender gap of 6 percent that the statisticians cannot explain in any other way.
It’s no wonder that many women working full-time or part-time are not satisfied with their salary. According to a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the job platform Indeed, more than one in two female employees (56 percent) in Germany do not believe they are paid appropriately. Only one in three women (33 percent) think their pay is appropriate; the rest did not provide any information.
A certain level of personal dissatisfaction may seem normal. What makes the numbers interesting is the international comparison. In addition to Germany, the Indeed study also surveyed female employees in ten other countries about pay, career opportunities and discrimination at work. So this is not primarily about comparing men and women in Germany. It’s about how female employees in this country and in comparable countries assess their respective situations.
The results show: When it comes to salary satisfaction, Germans are almost exactly in the average of all countries examined. The most dissatisfied are the French colleagues, almost three quarters of whom feel underpaid. In Italy and Canada, two out of three women are dissatisfied. In contrast, it is only every second in the Netherlands, the USA, Japan and Australia. Curious: Not only is the level of dissatisfaction expressed lowest in India, seven percent of the women surveyed there even say that they are overpaid.
It is important to emphasize: This is not an objective inequality, but rather a perceived justice, which can also vary culturally. According to the responsible opinion research institute YouGov, the survey of a total of 14,677 women is representative of the respective female working population.
Quelle: YouGov/Indeed
The answers on the topic of salary discussions are also interesting. In Germany, every second woman surveyed has asked for a salary increase at least once during her career. The value is similarly high in France and the USA. In Great Britain it is slightly lower at 45 percent and significantly lower in Italy (38 percent). In India, on the other hand, there seems to be a lot more talk about salary: almost two thirds of the Indian women surveyed have asked for more money – and mostly received it. But it’s apparently also worth asking questions elsewhere: in all countries, a majority of those who asked for a salary increase say they got one.
Questions were also asked about career opportunities. In Germany, only one in three people are of the opinion that there is no difference between the sexes when it comes to promotions. One in two people say that it is easier for men to have a career. A small minority of 6 percent see it the other way around. With these answers, employees from Germany are in the middle of the country comparison.
But there are differences in the reasons. When asked about what they consider to be the most important career obstacles, most women cite “sexism or unconscious discrimination.” This is the most cited reason in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Singapore, Japan and Australia. Only in Germany, the Netherlands and India is another reason dominant: “caregiving responsibilities”, i.e. childcare, care and other family responsibilities. The division of paid work and family work still seems to be a big issue in this country.