Can Brussels crack the gender pay gap?

A new directive strives to narrow the 11% hourly wage gap between men and women in the EU.

Around the world, the gender pay gap has been shrinking as women gain access to higher education and better employment opportunities. Though varied hours, industries and care responsibilities make this inequality a difficult problem to tackle with one universal policy.

Member states have just passed their deadline to implement measures that will hold employers to account for pay disparities in the workplace so will pay transparency solve the persistent gap?

Contributors:
Emma Duchini, assistant professor of economics, University of Essex, UK
Marianne Bertrand, professor of economics, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, US
Adamnesh Bogale, head of gender, African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), Ghana
Marina Tverdostup, economist, Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, Austria

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier
Producer: Evie Yabsley
Researcher: Amelia Cox
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Technical Producer: Toby James
Production Management: Phoebe Lomas and Liam Morrey

(Photo: A woman typing. Credit: BBC)