Women earn 25 per cent less than men: Monster Salary Index 2016

Indian women earn 25 per cent less than Indian men, according to the Monster Salary Index (MSI) on gender for 2016. This goes on to prove that gender is a major parameter in determining the salary of the employee, reported Livemint.

Men earned a median gross hourly salary of Rs 345.8, while women earned Rs 259.8 in 2016. This gap got narrowed by two percentage points from 27.2 per cent in 2015 and is closer to the 24.1 per cent in 2014. About 68.5 per cent women at Indian workplaces also feel that gender parity is still a concern.

The index concludes that the average gender pay gap in the manufacturing sector stood at 29.9 per cent. This is an improvement of 5 percentage points from 2015—the highest in India. This was followed by a 25.8 per cent pay gap in the IT sector. The gender pay gap in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector was at 21.5 per cent, which is still below the general gender pay gap in India (25 per cent). In education and research sector, the average gender pay gap was at 14.7 per cent.

The report highlights that there is average gender pay gap of 38.2 per cent in Information and Communications is one of the widest seen. Women earn Rs 142.5 less per hour than men, implying that men gain another 38.2 per cent more of their salary.

In finance and banking sector, this gender pay gap in the is 21.5 per cent.

In 2016, however, wages rose by Rs144.3 (+45.4%) for male employees and by Rs79.5 (+29.8%) for female employees. Therefore, while the gender pay gap shrank slightly from 2014 to 2015, it grew again in 2016 to 25.0%.

In the education and research sector, the gender pay gap amounts to 14.7 per cent on average. It is nearly 10 percentage points below the overall level of 25 per cent.

Going by the average, a 22.6 per cent gender gap exists in the healthcare, caring services, and social work sector. Male employees earned Rs 242.4, female employees Rs 187.6 per hour.