November 23, 2021.
Magda Bargalló
What are the main causes of the wage gap in companies in the chemical sector?
There is a pattern in the behavior of the gender gap, which is repeated very frequently in the results of the salary audits that we have been carrying out in companies in the chemical sector.
Do you know the Droste effect? The Droste effect speaks of an image that includes within it a smaller version of itself. Well, to understand the reasons that generate a gap in companies in the chemical sector, let’s first analyze the sector itself.
There is no doubt that the chemical sector is a sector committed to the implementation of real equality policies between men and women in the workplace; this was demonstrated by the publication of its 19th collective agreement in 2018. This was a pioneer in terms of equality, regulating the following matters:
- Obligation to prepare an Equality Plan for those companies with more than 150 employees.
- Creation of the figure of the Equality Delegate for all companies.
- In the same vein, the obligation to provide workers’ representatives with the gross salary broken down by gender and the need to take into account the gender perspective in the prevention of occupational risks was incorporated.
Although it is a sector that is committed to including matters of Equality in collective bargaining, it is also true that the presence of women in the chemical sector in Spain is very low, the third quarter of 2021 closed with 37,900 women, representing 28.97% of the entire workforce in the sector. (Source: INE)
At the same time, we observe that the departments with the greatest presence of women in leadership positions in chemical companies are mainly security, environment, research and development, laboratories, human resources and administration, although the list between companies is heterogeneous. Meanwhile, men are a large majority among production and engineering staff, with percentages ranging between 90% and 100% of the workforce.
Allow me now, once the picture of the sector has been revealed; to begin to develop in detail the conclusions obtained in each of the companies analyzed:
We begin by evaluating the total gap at the company level, and this is presented with soft valuations. That is, they are gaps very far from 25%, but, even so, they appear in favor of men.
If we go deeper to be able to specify where and why the gap is generated, we first analyze the fixed salary concepts of the agreement:
Base Salary; Agreement Plus; Seniority: In the vast majority of companies analysed, these salary concepts show negative gaps; that is, the amounts received by women at the company level as a whole are higher than those received by men.
This pattern of behaviour shows us that the presence of female workers in the vast majority of companies analysed is in middle-high positions within the organisational chart.
On the other hand, if we focus the analysis of these same concepts on the most masculinised jobs (especially production jobs) we see how the behaviour of seniority is completely reversed. That is, in jobs with a higher rate of presence of men, the behaviour of the gap in seniority is in favour of men.
Why? Because women have entered production positions within the sector later. If we compare the average number of years of seniority of workers with the average number of years of seniority of female workers in production positions, the difference is very significant.
Although it has been detected that seniority is a concept that generates a gap at the job level, this is not the only explanation for reaching the total gap in the company, so, what are the causes that really affect the total gap in the company?
Without a doubt, the causes that affect the total gap in the company are salary supplements for the job: those that compensate for special working conditions and working hours. Supplements that are directly linked to production jobs, and let us remember, jobs occupied mostly by men.
These concepts are:
Turnicity: It tries to reward the special condition that supposes the fact that workers do not always keep the same work shift, with the disruption that this entails for the family and personal life of the worker, also for their health.
This supplement is received to a greater extent by male workers, since, if there is a voluntary decision on shift work, women will choose it to a lesser extent, normally, due to the incompatibility that it implies with the conciliation of family life.
Inequalities can be increased in cases where this supplement is granted to shift workers imposing certain conditions. For example, that the shift work day is complete, not receiving this supplement people who work part-time (typology mostly composed of women).
Night work: Art. 36.1 ET, considers a night worker to be someone who works his or her work day between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. The reason for the night work supplement is to compensate for the difficulties that the night schedule generates in the conciliation of family and personal life with work life. However, it is mostly received by male workers, since women are the ones who carry out family care tasks coinciding with night shifts.
Dangerousness – Hardship: Regarding the application of these bonuses, we find that they are usually paid to a greater extent in those jobs that have traditionally been carried out by male workers.
The same phenomenon occurs with supplements that compensate availability, salary supplements such as: Guards, Retainers, Flexibility, Availability Bonus, Holidays… These types of concepts that compensate for the wide availability to work of workers. Again, the vast majority of women will choose to receive these bonuses to a lesser extent due to the incompatibility that it entails with the conciliation of family life.
It is logical to conclude that, being a sector committed to equality policies, it is necessary to promote the implementation of innovative positive measures to achieve equal workforces. Meanwhile, the sector continues to be forced to live with the lack of policies aimed at achieving family co-responsibility.
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