THE workplace on a global scale is still, despite the return to some form of normality after the COVID-19 pandemic, teeming with inequalities at the expense of of womenaccording to the conclusions of two young of PwC surveys “Women in Work Index” and “Global Empowerment Index”. More specifically, PwC’s Women in Work (WiW) index shows a slight increase in women’s labor force participation rate among the 33 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2021. However, progress towards full gender equality it remains very slow. The analysis shows that trillions of dollars in gains could come from closing the gender pay gap. Raising women’s average wages to match their male counterparts in OECD countries would boost women’s earnings by more than $2 trillion annually. However, based on the OECD gender pay gap of 14% in 2021, and given historical rates of progress towards gender pay equality, it will take more than 50 years to close this distance.

Accordingly, according to PwC’s Global Empowerment Index (GEI) there is a gap of 34 percentage points between women who answer that fair financial reward for their work is important to them and the percentage who actually experience it. This is the biggest “scissor” in the entire research.

At the same time, the PwC Women in Work index shows a slight drop in the unemployment rate for women, from 6.7% to 6.4% in 2021. However, similar improvements were evident in the corresponding rates for men, suggesting that the employment levels are a symptom of macroeconomic factors and the broader labor market recovery, rather than some form of progress towards gender equality.

The best performing countries in the WiW index in 2021 remain unchanged from 2020, with some improving their position in the relative ranking and others falling slightly. Luxembourg took first place this year (up from second a year ago) while New Zealand dropped to second. Slovenia remained in third place, but recorded a drop in the rating of the relevant Index.

Increasing the female employment rate across the OECD to the level of Sweden (which records the top performer in female labor force participation rates) would result in potential economic benefits of nearly $6 trillion. USD annually.

According to the GEI, a significant gender empowerment gap emerges, with men having more power in the workplace than their female colleagues. This index is based on an analysis of gender-related views and experiences of nearly 22,000 working women worldwide by assessing 12 empowerment factors across four dimensions: autonomy, impact, meaning and sense of belonging, confidence and competence.

The four most important workplace empowerment factors for women, which have been shown to be instrumental in changing careers, are fair pay (72%), job satisfaction (69%), a workplace where they can truly being themselves (67%) and having a team that cares about their well-being (61%).

Men and women are largely similar in the importance they place on each empowerment factor. However, men were more likely to say that they actually benefited from these factors in their workplace. The areas where the biggest gap for women versus men is found are fair pay (gap 34 points), choice of time (27 points), place (22 points) and way (22 points) of employment, satisfaction they receive through work (difference of 20 points) and having a manager who seeks their opinion when making decisions (19 points).

Women surveyed who scored highest on empowerment were more likely to ask for a raise (55%) and a promotion (52%). This compares to respective scores of 31% (24 point deviation) and 26% (26 point deviation) respectively for the average of the women surveyed. More empowered women are also more likely to recommend their company as a place to work (67%), 32 percentage points higher than average. In addition, they are significantly more likely to say they are very satisfied with their jobs (54%), compared to 25% of women overall (29 points difference).

According to the GEI index, women with the highest rates of empowerment work in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications sectors. At the top is the Technology industry, in which women have slightly more power than men. Similarly, women employed in the Financial Services and Energy, Utilities and Resources sectors record the second and third highest empowerment rates, however in these sectors men’s rates are significantly higher.