Norwegian women with childcare responsibilities have a lower average hourly wage than women without children, according to a report published in September 2004. Explanations for this wage gap are numerous, but evidence cited in the study hints at a structural problem, in which direct discrimination is but one factor. Moreover, childcare responsibility, and related absence from work, is found to be an impediment to career development.
A report by the Institute for Social Research (Institutt for samfunnsforskning, ISF), issued in September 2004, finds that women with childcare responsibilities have a lower average hourly wage than women without children. Moreover, the more children a woman has, the lower her wage will be vis-à-vis other women with no or fewer children. Explanations for this wage gap between women are many, but there is evidence that it may be a largely structural problem, in which direct discrimination is but one factor. The situation of women with children has not, however, deteriorated over time. The study nevertheless concludes that childcare responsibility, and absence from work for this purpose, is very much an impediment to career development, and that despite significant legislative efforts in recent years to promote a healthy balance between work and family life, this area remains by and large a problem for women in Norwegian working life.
Background
The report should be seen in light of the more general debate on facilitating a better work-family balance, and the effects of parental leave and benefit arrangements on wage developments for women and men in Norway. The development of the country's legal framework on parental leave has had as its main objectives to promote women's labour market participation, and encourage men to spend more time at home taking care of their children (NO0308103F). From the 1970s onwards, a number of reforms have been carried out to achieve a better work-family balance, including increased opportunities in relation to paid maternity and paternity leave. As a result of these efforts, the employment rate of women rose from 44% in 1972 to 67% in 2002, according to data from Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå, SSB). The entry of more women into the labour market has also contributed to a narrowing of the gender wage gap in the same period. The narrowing of the wage gap, however, has come to a halt in recent years, and women's average wages have been around 83% of men's for some time (SSB figures). A key explanation for this has been the childcare responsibilities of women, and the time spent away from work taking care of children.
Childcare creates wage differences between women
The ISF report comes against the backdrop of an increasing number of reports and complaints to the Gender Equality Ombud (Likestillingsombudet) about discrimination at work as a result of childbirth and maternity leave (NO0405102N). Thus the report sets out to examine the wage gap between women with and without children, and assess the extent to which it has increased over time. It finds that that women with childcare responsibilities have a lower average hourly wage than women without children, and that this gap increases by number of children. The average wage of women with one child is 1.5% lower than that of women with no children, while the average wage of women with three children is 6% lower than that of women with no children. The wage gap between women with and women without children, is greater in the private sector than in the public sector, which may, according to the report, be due to a more compressed wage structure in the public sector. It is important to note that in the analysis a number of background factors such as age and working time have been controlled for, and for this reason the women compared share relatively similar character traits. The only point that separates them is the number of children.
This wage gap may be explained by a number of reasons, of which direct discrimination is but one. Another significant factor is the time that these women spend away from work caring for their children, during which they miss out on valuable training and work experience that will have an impact on their future pay developments. There are no indications to suggest, according to the study, that the pay conditions of women with childcare responsibility have changed or become worse over time. In the study, two age cohorts of women with and without children (in 1995 and 1998) were studied: wage developments in the two periods were relatively similar, and the difference in pay between these two groups of women remained stable over time.
Commentary
Despite significant social reforms during the 1980s and 1990s to enable women to balance work and family life, and to encourage men to get more involved in childcare, women still bear the brunt of childcare responsibility in Norway. The new ISF report clearly shows, however, that the issue of wage differentiation in employment is not just a gender matter, but also has roots in more structural problems in the remuneration and benefits system itself in Norway, which among other effects encourages longer periods away from employment, which may have a significant effect on wage developments in the future.
The findings of the ISF study are not surprising, considering the fact that an important explanation for the wage gap between men and women has been the childcare responsibilities of women. Thus, one may easily assume that there are also wage differences between women with and without such responsibilities. The fact that this wage gap has remained relatively stable over time may also be viewed in the light of similar developments between women and men. Taking into consideration however the fact that the wage difference between women is significantly smaller than the difference that exist between women and men, one must assume that childcare responsibility provides only a partial explanation for the wage gap between men and women.
The report does not draw any firm conclusions as to the main causes of the wage gap between women with and without children - whether it is down to direct discrimination of women as a result of taking childcare leave, or whether childcare leave in itself creates difficulties for women in catching up and acquiring competences vital to their future wage developments. However, whichever way one looks at it, the cases brought before the Gender Equality Ombud prove that the employment situation of employed mothers is particularly vulnerable. Many of these complaints have involved women whose jobs and positions have been changed as a result of their absence, and in many cases changing work tasks/responsibilities have been accompanied by a loss of pay. Although reorganisation of work falls within the scope of management prerogative, the work may not be changed in such a way as to leave the employee worse of than when she or he took leave of absence. This is in breach of the legal framework, according to the Ombud.
The Ombud has also considered discrimination cases in relation to company-level pay bargaining and wage formation. In some cases women on leave of absence have been seen to lose out in wage formation at the company level, either because they are discriminated against by being kept out of negotiations while on leave, or because their absence is used as a reason to discriminate in the actual negotiations. The Gender Equality Board (which has a court of appeal function in relation to cases considered by the Ombud) has previously ruled that such cases are in breach of the Equal Status Act, since women more often than men are absent from work for longer periods for childcare purposes. All employees, whether on leave or not, are entitled to promote their case in company-level wage negotiations, and should be encouraged to do so, and leave of absence because of childcare responsibilities should not be used as a motive for determining individual pay increases. The same principle applies in relation to collective wage bargaining and increases. The principle of including women on childcare leave in company-level wage formation is now being adopted in collective bargaining, having been established for the first time in Norway through a collective agreement between the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO) and Norwegian Association for Salaried Employees (Norges Funksjonærforbund, NOFU). The agreement stipulates that women on maternity leave are to participate in company-level wage formation in the same way as ordinary employees, and they should be encouraged to take part in wage discussions prior to negotiations. (Håvard Lismoen, Fafo Institute of Applied Social Sciences)