Why aren’t Estonian women fighting for equal pay?

Estonian women earn an average of 30 percent less than men, although the gap appears to have evened by one-third in 2009 according to domestic statistics. Photo by Mait Jüriado.

TALLINN — Why aren’t Estonian women protesting about their unequal wages vis-a-vis men, the highest gender pay gap in the European Union according to Eurostat?

Estonian women earn an average of 30 percent less than men, although the gap appears to have evened by one-third in 2009 according to domestic statistics. Estonia’s Social Insurance Fund data shows that while in 2007 women paid 31 percent less social tax than men, but in 2009 the difference was below 20 percent.

If this is the case it isn’t due to any street protests or political initiatives but is instead an indirect result of the general slump in wages caused by the economic crisis.

Estonian Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner Margit Sarv told the Postimees newspaper that fighting for one’s rights in a working relationship takes a lot of courage. Sarv has received only seven complaints concerning the pay within five years despite the large pay gap.

In fact, if a female employee does turn to the employer concerning a gender pay gap and problem remains unsolved, she can report the matter and face a debate in front of the labor dispute committee or even a court battle and yet due to often weak enforcement of the laws these efforts can be futile, and coupled with fear of being fired in today’s job market women are discouraged from reporting wage inequality, regardless of equal pay legislation Estonia has on the books. Indeed, protests or strikes of any sort are rare in Estonia — the harsh austerity measures of the last year were passed with nary a peep on the streets, unlike in Greece or other European countries.

Another culprit is gender segregation, as certain sectors of the Estonian workplace are dominated by one sex, and protesting about unequal wages there is more difficult if there are hardly any men in the sector to compare with. It also helps hide the issue, as Estonians are among the least aware nationality in Europe of gender pay issues in their country, according to Eurostat.

Mark Smith, an assistant professor at the Grenoble School of Management and a member of the European Expert Group on Gender and Employment, told Baltic Reports that although a large number of women are in the workforce in Estonia, the job sectors are very segregated by sex.

“Estonia is one of the champions of segregation,” Smith said. “In Estonia you have a relatively high level of employment, that means there’s may women in work and their concentrated in low-pay jobs.”

Sarv said it is important to value more those job sectors that women dominate, such as education, health, and social work and it is also important to trust women to take leading positions.

“Transparency is important — all employees should know on what basis they get paid, and on what criteria their salary and bonuses are counted,” Sarv said.