Equal Pay and Gender
Mainstreaming:
The Case of Estonia
Anu Laas
Equal pay and gender mainstreaming:
Monitoring the European employment strategy
Seminar. ETUI, Brussels, November 18-19, 2002
Content
I. Gender pay gap in Estonia.
Changes during the transition period
II. National policies to tackle unequal pay
III. The impact of the EES
IV. Policies from a gender mainstreaming
perspective
V. Policy recommendations
Case of Estonia
I. Gender pay gap in Estonia
Changes during the transition
period
Share of women’s hourly wage out of men’s
hourly gross wage, 1994 and 2000 (%)
Case of Estonia
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oc
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pa
tio
ns
Le
gi
sl
at
or
s
100
90
70
60
91
87
80
75
71
76
76
80
71
71
61
1994
84
68
64
91
84
78
74
75
74
66
50
2000
Case of Estonia
Gender pay gap for same job
University of Tartu
Women got less paid appr 25%, wage desire
also lower
Gross wage income in September 1998 and
desired monthly salary by sex (index 1,0 =
3518 EEK or 258 USD, an average monthly
salary before taxes in September 1998 at
University of Tartu, all respondents, N=695)
Case of Estonia
7,0
6,0
5,0
4,0
3,0
2,0
Men, UT IX'98
Women, UT IX´'98
Men, total IX'98
Women, total IX'98
Men, dream '98
Women, dream '98
1,0
As
s
is Pro
ta
nt fes
pr so
r
of
es
s
Le or
ct
ur
Se
er
T
ni
e
or
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re ch
M
an
se er
ag
a
er Re rch
ia
l p sea er
os rc
itio he
n, r
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Sp hie
ec f
ia
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le
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or
ke
r
0,0
Case of Estonia
Female work in 2001



about every fifth woman is employed in
professional jobs (70,3% - female work – F)
the next out of five is technician or associate
professional (70,7% - F)
every fifth woman is working in sales or
services (79,3% - F)
Case of Estonia
Low pay



Low pay is a serious social problem
Sometimes there is low pay + informal
pay (lack of data)
In agriculture is low pay and smallest
gender gap  from one side salaries near
to minimum, from other side farmers do
not pay salaries to themselves (some
social tax paid)
Case of Estonia
Low pay cont.




Many women are self employed
No data by sex, 2 registers
Commercial Register has about 20,000,
tax offices about 40,000
Many self employed people pay only
social tax  actually not enough
compensation in case of sick leave and
low pension is expected
Case of Estonia
Low pay cont.


Unions are negotiating a minimum wage
(annually)
Employers organisations’ voice is strong
and they say: we are starting to loose our
competitive advantage
Case of Estonia
Retail and whole sale are
overcrowded
Lack of business ideas  self employment in
sales and services
Low investment skills and power
The highest gender pay gap between service
workers and shop and market sales workers,
but gap has diminished
 out of ten - eight women
 out of women - every fifth woman
Case of Estonia
Speculations





Many women ready to work in sales
Many small shops, high uncertainty and
employer’s insecurity
Lack of cash - informal salary
People are divided to small and
fragmented collectives – no unions
No unions and collective actions –
insecurity of employees
Case of Estonia
Employed persons aged 15-69 by type of
ownership, 1989-2001 (%)
80
75,8
70
73,3
68,6 69,3 69,2
69
61,2
60
61,2
52,5
47,5
50
40
45,6
38,8
36,9
31,4 30,7 30,8
31
24,2
63,1
54,4
38,8
30
71,571,5
26,7
28,528,5
20
10
0
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Public sector
Private sector
Case of Estonia
How the economic transition
influenced the gender pay gap?
Rapid restructuring of Estonian economy
Imbalance in labour demand and supply
Pay differences between women and men in
late 1980s, beginning of the 1990s about
18-20%, in 1994 – 29%, in 2000 - 25%
Gendered outcome: gender pay gap has
increased during the transition period
Case of Estonia
II. National policies to tackle
unequal pay


Main National policies to tackle unequal
pay before and after the EES
To what extent these policies follow a
gender mainstreaming approach?
Case of Estonia
Before EES




Silence
Gender issues raised on national level
after Beijing (1995)
Small talk on gender issues
Statements: Women earn less than men.
It is normal. Everybody knows.

No debates on gender pay gap
Case of Estonia
III. The impact of the EES
National Action Plan for
employment 2002 (NAP)
NAP gives anonymous promises


in 2001-2003 a strategy and methods will
be worked out to integrate gender
equality into the areas of employment and
occupational life
strengthening of the policy to guarantee
equal opportunities for women and
men is one of the priority activities
Case of Estonia
NAP



about gender pay gap is not a word
about gender pay gap is not a word
about gender pay gap is not a word
Case of Estonia
Women in labour market




High women’s employment rate
In 2001, employment rate for women
aged 15-74 was 50,7% and for working
age women 62,5%
Lack of choices – women’s income needed
Individual agreements - low salaries
Case of Estonia
Employment rate of women by age group
100
96,3
92,8
90
88,6
82,6
80
76
75,8
64,6
62,5
65,4
82,9
81,9
76,8
70
64,9
60
50
49,5
44,4
40
30
20-24
25-29
30-34
1989
1995
35-39
40-44
2001
Case of Estonia
Employment rate by sex and age
group, 1989 (%)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1519
2024
2529
3034
3539
4044
Males
4549
5054
5559
6064
6569
7074
Females
Case of Estonia
Employment rate by sex and age group,
2001 (%)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
15- 20- 25- 30- 35- 40- 45- 50- 55- 60- 65- 7019 24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59 64 69 74
Males
Females
Case of Estonia
Unemployment rate
16
14,6
14
13,5
12,7
12
10
8
6
6,6
6,5
10,5
10,6
8,9
9,2
10,1
9,2
10,8
13
12,3
10,9
8,9
7,9
7,3
4
2
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Males
1998
1999
2000
2001
Females
Case of Estonia
Gender awareness of unequal pay

Publication by the Ministry of Social Affairs
‘Guidelines for equal pay for equal work to
men and women’


Distributed: (1) public agencies (2) NGOs
Society values success, social exclusion 
people perceive pay problem as personal
one (low pay  I am inflexible, failed)
Case of Estonia
Statistical monitoring of unequal
pay: statistics



Statistical Office of Estonia (SOE)
adoption of the statistical acquis
continuous Labour Force Survey, Household
Budget Survey, Time Use Survey


web-based statistical database: www.stat.ee
hourly wages by ISCO (annually in October) 
lack of gender sensitive data by branch of
economy and lack of data from microenterprises
Case of Estonia
Gender research




Courses in two universities
Marginal area, no degree program
available
No systematic courses to officials and
educators (preschool and school teachers)
Applied gender research is often gender
blind
Case of Estonia
No pressure, no need, no activities




Labour laws are good, not implemented
People accept conservative gender
ideology
Women who struggle against societal
values stay alone against media and
public opinion
Only opinion leaders can have ‘strange
views’ on women and men in society
Case of Estonia
Marju Lauristin (MP)
Surveys and statistics show that
Estonia is a society, which is adapting very
slowly to the understandings and relations
to the modern world.
Case of Estonia
Toomas Hendrik Ilves (MP)
I am a bit worried, my honoured colleagues!
It seems me that men will decide among
themselves what are women’s rights.
I do not believe that it is good for our state
that our men decide what women can do
and what they cannot, when women are
discriminated and they are not.
Case of Estonia
Ilves about Gender Equality Act


It is drafted to avoid these thousands of
cases, where a woman gets less paid for
same job. A woman is not hired, because she
can get pregnant.
A woman is fired the first when there is a
need to choose among male and female
employees. It is very practical problem, which
many people facing in Estonia.
Case of Estonia
Empowerment of women’s movement




About 200 women’s organisations – cooperation
on national level weak (like clubs in 1989-2000).
In 2002 support to CEDAW shadow report and
to draft Gender Equality Act
Weakness: low income  low enthusiasm and
voluntary work
Leadership skills and capacity building
Consensus building
Case of Estonia
Empowerment of labour market players:
ministries
Employment and labour market policy:
Ministry of Social Affairs
 Estonian Labour Market Board
 Labour Inspectorate (supervision,
monitoring)
Enterprise policy: Ministry of Economics
 Enterprise Estonia – agencies and measures
(some pay attention to women)
Case of Estonia
Empowerment of labour market players:
unions



Two dominant confederations, divided
between private and public sectors
Union density 15% in Estonia, same in
Lithuania, Poland Spain (Latvia 30%,
Slovenia 41%)
Strong myth that gender gap in public
sector does not exist (gap is lower, it’s
true)
Case of Estonia
Private and public sector unions
EAKL – Confederation of Estonian Trade
Unions
 Federation of Estonian Health Care
 Professionals Unions - more than 3000
members Union of textile industry
employees - 5000 members
TALO - Professional Union of Civil Servants
Case of Estonia
Priority areas in EAKL Action Plan







more and better jobs for women
gender issues in collective bargaining
equal pay for work of equal value
access for women to promotion
gender awareness for men and women union
members and employers
combating violence against women at work
life-long education for women
Case of Estonia
Target group: all members

In hotel: ‘Our sauna is unisex, towels
needed in order to respect other users.’



EAKL accepts importance of equal treatment
principle
EAKL negotiates minimum wages on national
level and by industry and qualification
EAKL is active in collective bargaining and
monitors collective agreements
Case of Estonia
No complaints on a basis of sex





EAKL: No complaints about unfair wages
and unequal treatment on a basis of sex
EAKL staff is aware about gender pay gap
Real problem and complaints due to low pay
Vital interest of members is higher salary
It is true that implementation of promised
policies and principles are complicated and
time consuming
Case of Estonia
IV. Policies from a gender
mainstreaming perspective
Effectiveness of these policies


Training for officials from different
ministries (occasional selection, alone in
ministry, no voice heard)
From other side officials know that in
plans, reports, projects gender dimension
should be reflected)
Case of Estonia
Policy contradictions



GM – soolise võrdõiguslikkuse
süvalaiendamine (deepening & widening
gender equality)
Rhetoric has learned for policy papers
Conversation and text analysis shows that
gender issues are ‘uneatable’
Case of Estonia
Discourse on nature, culture and
‘poor men’




Women and men are performing their
roles dedicated to them by nature.
Gender equality does not fit to Estonian
society and culture.
Men live short and stressful life in Estonia
and need should be protected.
Why for women?
Case of Estonia
Institutional framework



Equality Bureau since 1996
1-4 persons, small resources (mostly from
abroad), project based, dependent
The Legal Chancellor (acts as
ombudsman), no gender experts among
staff
Case of Estonia
Legal framework


Gender Equality Act (1999-2000 prepared
by dozen experts, Dec 2001-Sept 2002 in
Riigikogu)
Equality and Equal Treatment Act (April
2002 prapared by 4 persons, in Sept 2002
in Riigikogu)
Case of Estonia
Strengths and weaknesses
 Some
basis has created
 Weak desire for equality
Case of Estonia
V. Policy recommendations
Creation of preconditions





Capacity building of Equality Bureau
National strategy for improvement gender
equality
Implementing existing laws and
conventions
Improving legal literacy
Adopting Gender Equality Act / Equality
and Equal Treatment Act
Case of Estonia
Awareness and acceptance




Introduction of gender inequality indicators
and improvement of data gathering
(segregated data by sex, gender research)
Public discussions about gender inequality
Discussions and debates on gender pay gap
Training of main socialisation agents about
gender issues
Case of Estonia
Fair pay




employment activation measures  self
employment and low pay
minimum pay policy
development of collective bargaining
(today individual pay agreements)
encourage women to ask higher pay,
teach people about wage negotiation
Case of Estonia
Soft values and quality of life


ABB in Estonia has declared: Our
company is dignified employer
To recruitment offers:
Equal opportunity employer
Case of Estonia