In stark contrast to Amber Rudd’s proposals to force British businesses to publish lists of foreign workers, companies in Germany will soon be required to publish data on gender pay parity in a move to tackle the gap.
After Home Secretary Rudd’s plans to name and shame companies who do not hire British staff went up in smoke, a similar bill tackling gender inequality in the work place has been welcomed by firms in Germany.
New research shows women are now earning 21 per cent less than men, even when factors such as part-time work are taken into account. As such, firms in Germany who employ more than 500 employees will be asked to carry out checks and publish reports on gender pay parity every five years in a move to address the imbalance.
Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats and their centre-left coalition allies have agreed in principle on rules, according to reports in The Guardian, which will see a system of comparing professional roles across a variety of sectors put in place.
Germany was ranked 11th in the World Economic Forum’s 2015 global gender gap report, behind the likes of Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden. The UK ranks 18th in the World.
