Based on information from earnings index figures collected by Statistics Finland, women's wages in the country are now 83.3% of what men make, a slight decline from the 83.4% recorded last year.
The STTK union confederation is drawing attention to the gender wage gap by marking "Women's Payday" on Monday. Figuratively, when compared with men's income levels, as of Monday women are working without pay for the rest of this year.
The confederation is concerned that the pay gap will continue to widen if more is not done to promote equality in the workforce. One change it says would help would be to abolish the confidentiality of personal wage and salary contracts.
In a release on Monday, STTK's legal counsellor for gender equality, Anja Lahermaa, said that if this were done, union representatives would have the right to access all information about wages and conditions on behalf of the workers they represent. At present, individual employees have the right to withhold release of this information.
