New stats suggest there is a gender pay gap in the health sector. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) say women working in the health and care sectors earn an average of 24 per cent less than men. 

The world’s most comprehensive global analysis of gender pay inequalities in the health and care sector finds that women face a larger gender pay gap than other economic sectors.

Much of the wage gap is unexplained, perhaps due to discrimination towards women - who account for 67 percent of health and care workers worldwide. 

Wages in the health and care sector tend to be lower overall, when compared with other economic sectors. This is consistent with the finding that wages often are lower in economic sectors where women are predominant.

The report also finds a wide variation in gender pay gaps in different countries, suggesting that pay gaps in the sector are not inevitable and that more can be done to close these gaps. Within countries, gender pay gaps tend to be wider in higher pay categories, where men are over-represented. Women are over-represented in the lower pay categories. 

Mothers working in the health and care sector appear to suffer additional penalties. 

During a woman’s reproductive years, employment and gender pay gaps in the sector significantly increase. These gaps then persist throughout the rest of a woman’s working life. 

The report observes that a more equitable sharing of family duties between men and women could, in many instances, lead to women making different occupational choices. 

The analysis also looks at the factors that are driving the sector’s gender pay gaps. 

Differences in age, education, working time and the difference in the participation of men and women in the public or private sectors only address part of the problem. The reasons why women are less paid than men with similar labour market profiles in the health and care sector across the world remains, to a large extent, unexplained by labour market factors, the report says. 

“The health and care sector has endured low pay in general, stubbornly large gender pay gaps, and very demanding working conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic clearly exposed this situation while also demonstrating how vital the sector and its workers are in keeping families, societies and economies going,” says Manuela Tomei, Director of Conditions of Work and Equality Department at the International Labour Organization. 

“There will be no inclusive, resilient and sustainable recovery without a stronger health and care sector. We cannot have better-quality health and care services without better and fairer working conditions, including fairer wages, for health and care workers, the majority of whom are women.  

“The time has arrived for decisive policy action, including the necessary policy dialogue between institutions. We hope this detailed and authoritative report will help stimulate the dialogue and action needed to create this.”

The full report is accessible here.