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How can we solve the gender pay gap?

·29 min·10 clips

Anna Bevan opens by linking Jane Garvey’s BBC experience to the wider issue of equal pay. Garvey describes feeling stitched up, then realizing the problem was much bigger than her own case. The episode uses that shift to show how the undervaluation of women’s work can be tucked away inside familiar institutions. It also reminds listeners that Woman’s Hour has been talking about the gender pay gap since 1947. Bevan introduces the podcast as a place where social scientists and other experts tackle one intelligent question, and frames the interviews as a way to move from anecdote to evidence. The global benchmark is stark: on average, women earn around 80 pence for every pound earned by men. The episode asks why that gap persists despite huge gains in education and labour-market access. Nina Rusiel argues that the gap can start before people ever enter the labour market. Her account points to preschool as an early place where the gap begins. She also says salary transparency matters because information helps level the playing field. The episode notes that about half of US states have already passed salary transparency laws. It also points to the EU’s plan to require more transparency from companies from 2026. That matters because vague pay offers can preserve inequality. Nina adds that transparency is not the only factor. Women are, if anything, now more educated than men. Even so, they are still more likely to choose lower-paying majors. She gives psychology and the humanities as examples, in contrast to computer science, where men are more represented and pay is higher on average. She is careful not to treat those choices as simply personal preference. The episode then broadens to the policy question of how work itself is valued. Camille Londes suggests that increasing parental leave is not always enough on its own. The closing argument is that society has to take traditionally female work seriously if it wants lasting change.

As heard by us

A careful look at why the gender pay gap persists.

Jane Garvey's account gives the episode its shape. It starts with her recognising the BBC pay gap and then widens into the longer story of how women's work is still priced too low.

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Why you'd press play

You want the mechanics behind the gender pay gap, not just the slogan.

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