Britons are among those least concerned about tackling the gender pay gap right now, with a major new study finding that one in 10 believe reports about the disparities between men and women are “fake news”.

Research released this morning to mark International Women’s Day found that just 28 per cent of the British public believe that closing the gender pay gap is important, and should be among the top priorities as the economy rebuilds from the Covid pandemic. This was far lower than other western European nations such as France (51%), Spain (46%) and Italy (44%).

The 28-country study by Ipsos MORI and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership found that 54% of people in the UK believe that the gender pay gap is a real problem. However, 18% believe it to be an example of “political correctness gone too far”.

Men (48%) are less likely than women (61%) to regard these concerns as a genuine problem. One in seven men (15%) believe such reports are fake news, more than double the proportion of women (6%) who say the same.

The Herald:

Amid widely-documented evidence of the disproportionate impact of this health and economic crisis on female workers, today’s findings will make troubling reading for those concerned that women will be overlooked in the economic recovery.

“It’s been said that we’re at a coronavirus crossroads: we face a choice between building back better or allowing progress on gender equality to stall or even be reversed,” said former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, who is now chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.

“As the world decides which path to take, the good news is that the vast majority of people recognise that closing the gender pay gap is important.

“The bad news is that in many countries, people are less clear it should be a top priority right now, as we begin to reopen and rebuild society. But if we’re to have any chance of ensuring women don’t lose out further because of this crisis, we need to keep this issue high on the agenda.”

The Herald:

According to the latest Women in Work Index released last week by accountancy group PwC, women’s economic empowerment is expected to decline for the first time in almost a decade because of the pandemic.

The index looks at a range of factors such as the gender pay gap and female unemployment. On those measures, progress for women in work is expected to fall by more than two percentage points between 2019 and 2021.

To undo the damage caused by Covid-19, progress towards gender equality in the workplace will need to be “twice as fast as its historical rate” between now and 2030.

“For business in particular, it’s paramount that gender pay gap reporting is prioritised, with targeted action plans put in place as business focus on building back better and fairer,” PwC chief people officer Laura Hinton said.

The Herald:

Whether this will be the case remains to be seen, as the government’s equality watchdog has delayed gender pay gap enforcement for a further six months until October 5.

Organisations in the UK employing more than 250 people are legally required to file their gender pay gap information annually, and were first obliged to do so in the spring of 2018. However, the Equality and Human Rights Commission suspended the filing requirement last year, meaning that companies are not bound now or ever to disclose their pay information for 2019.

This year’s deadline for private sector employers would have required disclosure of their 2020 data by no later than April 4, but this has been pushed back by six months. The result, critics argue, will be a delayed and incomplete picture of the extent to which the crisis has eroded progress.

“It is that old saying, if you can’t measure it, you can’t change it,” said Carolyn Currie, the chief executive of Women’s Enterprise Scotland. “You need an informed base from which to make decisions and take action, which is why we have called for better collection of gender-disaggregated data in our Manifesto for Change launched last week.”