Why pay transparency matters

For anyone interested in gender equality, APM’s new research report Developing Effective Interventions for Gender Equality in UK Construction Project Organisations, by Sara Hajikazemi, Giorgio Locatelli and Kate Lawrence, is a must-read.

According to the report, about 30% of women in construction believe sexism has held them back from pursuing senior roles, and more than half of the people working in the construction industry have witnessed or experienced sexism. Women still make up only 11% of the UK construction workforce; this number drops to just 1% of operatives on site. Women in the UK construction industry experience sexism, including lower salaries, career delays, and sexual harassment.

Existing gender-equality interventions aren’t working

“All of this demonstrates that the existing gender-equality interventions are not always effective,” write the authors. “Despite improvements and efforts towards equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) in UK construction, women in this sector are still experiencing gender bias, sexism, and discrimination. Discrimination is experienced within the areas of rewards and resources, processes and procedures, and behaviours and interactions. Gender bias and sexist discrimination impact women’s health and wellbeing, retention rates, and career growth.”

Pay Transparency

So, which interventions do work? Gender wage gaps are narrowed through organisations disclosing disparities in gender pay, the authors found. Furthermore, transparency on employee’s salaries leads to an increase in the number of women being recruited and to higher rates of promotions for women. Gender pay gap statuary reporting is one of the most effective interventions. This transparency increases accountability and drives action to advance gender equality in the workplace.

Organisations supporting transparency, publishing pay/grade policies, being open to discuss pay gaps, and complying with gender pay gap statutory reporting requirements ensure that information on gender pay gaps is available. This highlights pay inequality issues, which is particularly helpful where data is split at a divisional level, found the report.

Asking for a pay rise

The gender pay gap within project management currently stands at 24%, according to the APM Salary and Market Trends Survey 2023 research report. The project profession is significantly behind the average gender pay gap in the UK of 7.7%. Its reasons are numerous, both systemic and organisational. But things are often more ambiguous, including the attitudes and expectations women consciously or unconsciously adopt towards money, salaries and asking for pay rises.

Back in 2003, economics professor Linda Babcock (and co-author Sara Laschever) wrote an influential book called ‘Women Don’t Ask’, which discovered a huge difference in the number of men and women who negotiated their starting salary for their first job after graduation. Only 7% of women thought to ask for more money, compared to 57% of men.

Choosing to move on

They found that women are much less likely to ask for a pay rise, either because they feel undeserving of one or fear that uncomfortable negotiations could damage their relationship with their boss — they’d rather move jobs instead. “That seems to be an easier kind of behaviour for women to engage in rather than just demanding a pay rise”, explained Professor Susan Vinnicombe of Cranfield University at the time.

Babcock and Laschever wrote that, “women often worry more than men about the impact their actions will have on their relationships. This can prompt them to change their behaviour to protect personal connections, sometimes by asking for things indirectly, sometimes by asking for less than they really want, and sometimes simply by trying to be more deserving of what they want (say, by working harder), so they get what they want without asking.

“Women’s methods can be superior to those typically employed by men. Unfortunately, however, in our largely male-defined work culture, women’s strategies can be misinterpreted and leave them operating from a position of weakness. And in many cases, the only way to get something is to ask for it directly.”

A generation on

Since this discussion was had more than 20 years ago now, a new generation of female project professionals has entered the industry — but how much has really changed, especially in the male-dominated world of construction?

As Rachel Jackson, Lead Planner at Anglo American, wrote in the Spring 2024 issue of Project: “Project professionals are in the business of resolving problems and are therefore ideally suited to ask the candid questions and navigate the hurdles/boundaries which are currently impeding the progress within the profession on the gender pay gap issue. As a profession we can only gain from reaping the benefits of a more diverse workforce, collectively we need to utilise our skillsets to overcome these challenges and transition from trailing behind to leading from the front.”

The full report can be found at Developing Effective Interventions for Gender Equality in UK Construction Project Organisations