Wives still don’t earn as much as their husbands, says global study

A new global study examining the difference in earnings between heterosexual couples has revealed that men continue to be paid more than women in every country.

The study examined publicly available data from 45 countries across a four-decade period -- from 1973 to 2016 -- for the first global survey of intra-household gender inequality in wages, reports BBC.

The researchers, Professor Hema Swaminathan and Professor Deepak Malghan, of the Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, used data from 2.85 million households made up of heterosexual couples between the ages of 18 and 65 years. The data was collated by a non-profit, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), the report said.

The global survey said some of the reasons women earn less are universal. Men are culturally seen as breadwinners, while women are considered homemakers. Many women take a break -- or even leave paid work -- after childbirth. The gender pay gap and unequal pay (paying women less than men for the same work) remain a reality in many parts of the world. Unpaid housework and caregiving still remain largely a woman's responsibility, BBC quoted the survey as saying.

According to an International Labour Organisation report from 2018, globally, women perform 76.2 percent of total hours of unpaid care work, more than three times as much as men. In Asia and the Pacific, this rises to 80 percent, BBC said.

The report said that unpaid care work was "the main barrier preventing women from getting into, remaining and progressing in the labour force".

"Across most parts of the world, economic development and growth has happened and women's participation in labour force has increased," says Prof Swaminathan. "In many parts of the world, more women-friendly policies have narrowed the gap. There have been movements for equal pay for equal work. All this has led to a shrinking of the gap."

But despite the decline, current levels are still significant and the gap, she says, must be closed further.