International Equal Pay Day 2023: International Equal Pay Day, celebrated on 18 September, represents the longstanding efforts towards the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value. It further builds on the United Nations' commitment to human rights and against all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls.
According UN Organisation, “Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls continue to be held back owing to the persistence of historical and structural unequal power relations between women and men, poverty and inequalities and disadvantages in access to resources and opportunities that limit women’s and girls’ capabilities. Progress on narrowing that gap has been slow. While equal pay for men and women has been widely endorsed, applying it in practice has been difficult.”
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This article will provide you with a list of countries with the most equal pay between genders.
List of Countries With Most Equal Pay Between Genders
The gender pay gap is a term used to describe the difference between the median wages of full-time employed men and full-time employed women. The OECD country with the highest level of pay parity between the sexes is Belgium. OECD stands for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is a special platform where the leaders of 37 democracies with market-based economies work together to create norms for public policy that will support long-term economic progress.
| S.No | Country | Gender Gap Percentage |
| 1. | Korea Republic | 31.06% |
| 2. | Israel | 24.32% |
| 3. | Latvia | 23.95% |
| 4. | Japan | 22.11% |
| 5. | Cyprus | 21.13% |
| 6. | Estonia | 20.43% |
| 7. | United States | 17.65% |
| 8. | USA | 16.86% |
| 9. | Cannada | 16.11% |
| 10. | Finland | 15.98% |
| 11. | France | 15.05% |
| 12. | United Kingdom | 14.35% |
| 13. | Germany | 14.2% |
| 14. | Switzerland | 13.8% |
| 15. | Netherlands | 13.3% |
| 16. | Mexico | 12.5% |
| 17. | Czech Republic | 12.37% |
| 18. | Hungary | 12.35% |
| 19. | United Kingdom | 12.8% |
| 20. | Austria | 12.16% |
| 21. | OECD | 11.93% |
| 22. | Portugal | 11.72% |
| 23. | Slovakia | 11.7% |
| 24. | Czechia | 11.52% |
| 25. | EU27 | 10.63% |
| 26. | Australia | 10.47% |
| 27. | Brazil | 9.09% |
| 28. | Lithuania | 9.09% |
| 29. | Italy | 8.27% |
| 30. | Poland | 8.69% |
| 31. | Chile | 8.6% |
| 32. | Croatia | 7.57% |
| 33. | Sweden | 7.25% |
| 34. | New Zealand | 6.67% |
| 35. | Argentina | 6.25% |
| 36. | Greece | 5.91% |
| 37. | Romania | 5.76% |
| 38. | Costa Rica | 5.2% |
| 39. | Denmark | 4.99% |
| 40. | Norway | 4.6% |
| 41. | Spain | 3.72% |
| 42. | Colombia | 3.19% |
| 43. | Bulgaria | 2.55% |
| 44. | Belgium | 1.17% |
Source: Gender pay gap in OECD countries as of 2021(Statista. Com)
Interesting Facts About Gender Pay by UN Organisation
As per the United Nations Organisation, women are paid less than men, with the gender pay gap estimated at around 20 per cent globally. Some interesting facts related to the issue are:
- Women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn for work of equal value – with an even wider wage gap for women with children.
- Women are more likely to be unemployed than men worldwide, with wide disparities regionally.
- It is estimated that only 28 per cent of women employed worldwide get to enjoy paid maternity leave.
- Globally, nearly 65 per cent of people above retirement age without any regular pension are women.
- Women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men.
On average, women are paid about 20% less than men.
For women of colour, immigrant women & women with children, the difference is even greater.
On Monday's #EqualPayDay, join @un_women in demanding equal pay for all. https://t.co/9DkJpsxvFB pic.twitter.com/XOHpCssPPF
Equal pay is a significant step in advancing gender equality and human rights. The entire global community must put out effort, and there is still more to be done. In order to advance equal pay for equal work and the economic empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations, including UN Women and the International Labour Organization (ILO), invites Member States, civil society, women's and community-based organizations, feminist groups, as well as businesses and workers' and employers' organizations.