Last week, various film and television companies shared their pay figures, and the results were far from stellar. The most upsetting results came from Disney, who revealed a 22% pay gap between its male and female employees and a 40% gap in favor of men for bonuses. Yesterday, it was the turn of the music industry, which saw Warner Music UK as the stand out, with an average gender pay gap of 49%, and 82% for bonuses!
The reason all these shocking statistics are coming to light? Because of the UK government's mandate that all companies with over 250 employees disclose their pay data by April 4. This process began to unravel back in July 2017 when the BBC was asked to reveal the salaries of anyone earning over £150k. The results were damning, leading to protests by female employees and the resignation of one editor. Now that the requirement has been widened to include all large companies, we're seeing the true extent of the problem we already knew existed.
Companies with pay gaps are also being encouraged to outline a plan for how they might rectify the problem. But now these statistics are available to all, I hope it not only forces companies to continue to self-examine but that it provides employees the leverage with which to demand change.
