Women Employees in India Earn 19% Less than Men: Monster Survey

Gender pay gap is still high in India, as women in the country earn 19% less than men, and wage inequalities in favour of men are present in all the relevant sectors, a survey said on Thursday.

According to the latest Monster Salary Index (MSI), the current gender pay gap in India stood at 19% where men earned Rs 46.19 more in comparison to women. The median gross hourly salary for men in India in 2018 stood at Rs 242.49, while for women it stood at around Rs 196.3.

According to the survey, the gender pay gap spans across key industries. IT/ITES services showed a sharp pay gap of 26% in favour of men, while in the manufacturing sector, men earn 24% more than women.

Surprisingly, even in sectors like healthcare, caring services, and social work, men earn 21% more than women, even as notionally these sectors are more identified with women, the survey said.

Financial services, banking and insurance is the only industry where men earn just 2% more, it added. Acording to the report, gender pay gap widens with the years of experience. In the initial years, the gender pay gap is moderate but rises significantly as the tenure increases.

For those with over 10 years of experience, the gender pay gap in favour of men reaches the peak, with men earning 15% more than women.In 2018, the gap has narrowed only by 1% from 20% in 2017.

“The narrowing of the gender pay gap by just 1% is not just a cause for concern, but a reminder to genuinely introspect if we are doing enough. It becomes pivotal to galvanize forces across corporates and industries to work towards gender pay parity,” said Abhijeet Mukherjee, CEO, Monster.com, APAC & Gulf.