Pay discrimination between men and women,"all things being unequal"

Abstract

The problem of pay differentials between men and women, which continues to exist in France, is still a subject for debate, in the light of foreign experience (Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and the European Union). Indeed, traditional explanations are far from satisfactory. In other words, "all things being equal" (i.e. at a level of training, experience, occupational category, age, sector of activity deemed equivalent, etc.), women still earn 10 to 15% less than men in France (if one reckons that the overall differential is 20 to 30%). This situation can be explained by analysis of all the known and quantifiable variables, but also by others that are less mesurable. These have been classified in five categories, which come under different fields of analysis. From the sociological and cultural viewpoint, the question is that of the persistence of social prejudices; from the economic viewpoint, that of "structure and sector effects" ; the institutional variables (a more or less centralised method of determining pay, the existence of a minimum wage andlor "pressure" exerted by the trades unions); the more organisational variables, linked to systems of evaluation and classification of functions; lastly, corporate strategies and policies (in particular, individualisation of pay).