French Companies That Do Not Eliminate Gender Pay Gap Will Be Fined

On Wednesday, French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced that companies failing to eliminate gender pay disparities will face fines. This initiative has been communicated to all trade unions and employers. Although a law enacted 45 years ago in France mandates equal pay for men and women for similar work, men still earn, on average, 9% more than women. According to the French government, all production units and companies with more than 50 employees must install special software capable of monitoring pay systems and reporting any gender pay discrepancies. The initial plan was to make the use of this software mandatory next year for companies with over 250 employees and by 2020 for all companies with between 50 and 249 employees. Under this government plan, if the software reports a gender pay gap within the next three years, labor inspectors can fine the offending company up to 1% of the total amount it pays in salaries. The French government announced that it will negotiate with workers, unions, and labor experts in the coming days to prepare a proposal for reforming labor law to be presented to Parliament next month. In Spain, in light of International Women's Day on March 8, female workers went on strike. According to the Spanish Ministry of Transport, over 300 train services were canceled due to the strike, and metro services in Madrid faced disruptions. This strike was called by 10 labor organizations, and feminist groups urged women to refrain from spending money and to suspend household chores for one day. Two major unions in Spain asked their workers to stop working for two hours on Thursday. These efforts are all aimed at protesting the gender pay gap. In recent weeks, the discussion of this strike has been seriously followed by the media in Spain. Spanish actress Penélope Cruz supported the strike, stating she would cancel all her activities and would entrust her two children to her husband, Javier Bardem, for one day.