If you’re a woman you can stop wondering about salary slips: in South Africa you are being paid as much as 25% less than every male employee doing the exact same job as you.

Talking numbers when it comes to your salary slip is still a taboo in most workplaces, and even within families and groups of friends. But it is normal to wonder how much our co-workers make, and if employees with the same job description make the same amount of money.

Most of the time you won’t find out the answer to this question, but if you’re a woman you can stop wondering: in South Africa you are being paid as much as 25% less than every male employee doing the exact same job as you.

The gender pay gap

The gender pay gap is a worldwide phenomenon and can be defined as the difference in hourly earnings between men and women.

Research has shown that, even though inequalities in the workplace and in other domains of society are decreasing, the gender pay gap remains practically unaffected. Over time there have been changes, but although the size of the gender pay gap has gone up and down, it has essentially remained the same for the last 50 years.

There is no hard evidence or research that proves that this gender pay gap is the result of widespread and wilful discrimination against women, but it is very clear that there is a global problem of women being systematically paid less than men.

South African situation

The gender pay gap in South Africa is estimated to be 25%. This means that women in our country need to work three months longer than a man to earn the same salary.

The gross median monthly wage for women in SA is R12 444, while the gross median monthly wage for men is R16 842. For every one rand a man earns, a woman only earns 75c. Translated to days, woman all around SA stopped earning money at the end of September, and are working for free in October, November and December.

In the South African law, The Employment Equity Act tries to remedy the situation by setting out the principle of equal pay for equal value, and The Constitution of The Republic of South Africa provides for equality in the Bill of Rights. So certain steps have been undertaken to close the gap, but unfortunately there is still a very long way to go, and if we continue the way we are now, the pay gap will never be closed.

While salaries working for the South African government are better and more equal for both men and women, the private sector is lagging behind. When comparing industries, the service sector is better attuned to the needs of women because it has a high percentage of female employees, while mining and other heavy industries are the furthest behind in terms of gender pay equity.

International comparison

It is very difficult to compare nations because of the major differences in legislation and pay practices, but globally the wage gaps range between 6% and 39%. Finland, Nicaragua and Slovenia are on top of the list with a gap of only 6%. More on the bottom of the list, we find the United States (as the lowest scoring developed country) and Sub-Sahara African nations who reach an overall gender gap of 34%. Brazil and Bulgaria have reached a low of 39%.

From a global perspective, South Africa is doing quite well with our 25% gap and remains among the top 20 in the world gender gap rankings. South Africa is not the only country in the world struggling to close the pay gap; the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil have the same issues.

However, not all women and all countries are dealing with this issue in the same way.

In France and in Iceland, women from all over the country ceased what they were doing in the middle of the day and left the office to demonstrate for equal pay on what is called Equal Pay Day. This is the day in the year where women theoretically stop earning money when compared to their male co-workers. It is a different day for every country depending on how big the gap is.

By symbolically leaving work, they raise awareness, help unions and feminist organisations to build a stronger movement, and urge government and private sectors to take action.

Causes and consequences

There are multiple reasons that all partly explain the gender pay gap. A first cause of the gender pay gap is that women are seen as more unreliable employees and more likely to quit during child bearing years. This results in what has been called the ‘motherhood penalty’. Women with children earn significantly less than women without children, even if they share the same characteristics and are doing the same jobs.

This results in women, and especially vulnerable groups like single mothers, having to face more challenges in society when it comes to paying for needs like housing, life insurance, education, healthy food, transport and more.

A second cause lies in education. Women are too often pushed into learning traditional female occupations within the domestic, farming and service industries. This starts already with the subject choices in school, where girls are often regarded as incompetent at maths and science, and so don’t identify with these skills.

This results in a majority of women without degrees in typically technological or scientific fields where scarcity drives high pay. And even if a woman is as equally educated as a man, she might still have a lower salary because chances are that she is selected for a job role within the industry that pays a lower salary.

A third cause for the differences in salary lies in the wage determination and the value society gives to certain skills. Traditionally female skills such as nurturing and organising are often undervalued in our economy and are not given a monetary equivalent reward. In other words, jobs that are perceived as typically for female workers are not paid as much as they should be.

This results in industries with a bigger concentration of women in the workforce to have a lower overall pay level for both men and women working in the industry.

Also, earning less leads to lower pension payouts. That’s why elderly women are more likely to face poverty when compared to men.

Everyone wins

Imagine women earned the same as men.

The difference would contribute to a better quality of life of not only women, but whole families, and to better access to opportunities that will positively influence their future.

In addition, research has shown that closing the pay gap will help lift the economy up and increase GDP per capita, and thus both prosperity and welfare of all families. In other words, closing the gender pay gap will benefit society as a whole.

Time for action

Women need to take control, step up, and ask for more. The process begins in the interview and continues at every annual increase and bonus discussion.

Anita Bosch, lead researcher at the Women in the Workplace research programme at the University of Johannesburg, told marieclaire.co.za that “Women don’t negotiate as hard. Men, if anything, tend to overvalue their skills. And if you come in at a lower salary, then that salary is set.”

Women also tend to argue for higher salaries on the basis of their needs in terms of household expenses, while men argue for increases in terms of the value they bring to the business. Women need to follow this example, and show their contributions to the business when negotiating salaries and increases.

Governments, schools, HR departments, board members and all South African women must take a stand against gender-based inequalities. Every little improvement they accomplish will contribute to the final objective of closing the gender pay-gap for once and for all.

Written by Laura Vermeulen: Laura is a Belgian intern at Careers24. As a part of the content team, she writes career related articles and manages Career24's social media. She specialises in journalism and media and is currently completing her studies at the Free University of Brussels. You can get in touch with her via LinkedIn.

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