Deputy calls for companies to publish gender pay gap data

Tuesday 19 March 2024

A politician has lodged a proposition calling for Jersey’s larger companies to voluntarily publish their gender pay gap data.

Deputy Louise Doublet's proposal also said that if too few firms have agreed to the request by International Women’s Day 2025, the Government should start preparing legislation to make it a legal requirement.

It is set to be debated in the States Assembly on 16 April.

If the proposition is approved, the Government would be required to contact all businesses employing over 50 people to ask them to voluntarily publish data showing the difference between the average earnings between their male and female employees, with an accompanying explanation and action plan to address any imbalance.

If a target percentage of these companies voluntarily publishing their data is not reached by 8 March 2025 – International Women’s Day – the Government would be obliged to begin preparing mandatory gender pay-gap reporting legislation.

In lodging her proposition, Deputy Doublet said that, at the current rate of change, most women over the age of 38 would have retired before the gap was closed.

“Although there are pockets of progress on closing the gender pay gap within some companies and industries, overall the gap has not really improved and it has even widened in some areas,” she said.

“Recent data from PwC has shown that our economy could benefit hugely from an improvement in female workforce participation.

"And of course it is the right thing to do – gender has nothing to do with how intelligent or competent a person is and we must stop holding women back with outdated perceptions and biases.

“Persistent gender norms mean that women still take on the majority of household and childcare tasks.

"Unequal distribution of these tasks can result in a motherhood penalty in the workplace and this is a significant contributor to the gender pay gap.”