Imaged Retried from https://www.topdeck.travel/tours/europe/france
The French culture and their social structure are fascinating. The French believe that social status is upheld by the level of education, a beautiful home, and knowledge of literature and fine arts (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, Pg.478). Social stereotypes are common with the French, and it’s not easy getting rid of them. Because France Is highly articulate and has a sophisticated culture there are some social issues with employment.
One social issue is the wage gap between women and men. The average wage gap is about 24 percent overall (Roux, Kim & Laboris, 2019). There have been movements to fix this issue. President Emmanuel Macron has committed to gender equality for women in the workplace by setting new obligations in the workplace. These obligations were created through “Freedom to Choose a Professional Future Law” which was published on Sept. 6, 2018 (Roux, Kim & Laboris, 2019). With this law, it forces employers to measure and publish five indicators relating to gender pay gaps. There is a point system in place that indicates whether the company complies.
Here is a description of how the point system works from the following website: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/global-france-gender-equality-obligations.aspx
- The pay gap percentage between women and men calculated on the average remuneration of women and men in the same age group and job category (scale from 0 to 40 points).
- The gap in the rate of individual salary increases between women and men (scale from 0 to 20 points or 0 to 35 points for companies employing between 50 and 250 employees).
- The gap in the rate of promotion between women and men (scale from 0 to 15 points; this does not apply to companies employing between 50 and 250 employees).
- Percentage of women benefiting from a salary increase in the year following their return from maternity leave (scale from 0 to 15 points).
- The number of employees of the underrepresented sex among the 10 highest-paid employees (scale from 0 to 10 points).
The overall score is the sum of the points obtained for each of the five indicators (four for companies between 50 and 250 employees). The minimum required total score is 75 out of 100 points. Failing this, the employer must implement corrective measures.
Overall, the French are taking corrective measures to fix these issues. Sometimes it is easy for us to forget about some of the inequalities in the workforce because a lot of progress has been made. The French aren’t the only ones trying to improve gender equality in the workplace. The U.S data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that in 2019 women earn just 79 cents for every dollar men make and men typically start at a higher pay rate (Elk, 2019). I found this subject to be interesting because it shows how different countries are handling gender inequality in the workplace.
Resources:
Moran, R.T., Abramson, N. R. & Moran, S.V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. Ninth Edition. Abingdon: Routledge.
kathleen_elk. (2019, April 2). Here’s how much men and women earn at every age. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/02/heres-how-much-men-and-women-earn-at-every-age.html.
Roux, M. L., Kim, J. E. K., & Laboris, I. (2019, October 29). France: New Gender Equality Obligations Established. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/global-france-gender-equality-obligations.aspx.
mmi5072 says
The French government is, indeed, making waves in an effort to ensure gender equality in the workplace. “France enacted new legislation in September 2018 that requires employers with at least 50 employees to publish information each year on gender pay gaps and the actions they have taken to address them. Employers also receive an “equal pay rating… If the employer’s equal pay rating falls below a certain level, the employer must adopt corrective measures.” (Cowen & Soto, 2019). This seems to be an innovative way to force companies to address this inequality. It will be interesting to see if this program is successful in closing the gap. Something like this could be very beneficial here in America as well.
Works Cited
Cowen, R.B. & Soto, M.C. (2019). Responses to gender pay inequity: a quick world tour. The National Law Review. Retrieved from https://www.natlawreview.com/article/responses-to-gender-pay-inequity-quick-world-tour