salary gap gender gap

Salary Gap

Despite the laws, gender salary gap persists. 

We have gathered some data with reference to EU legislation and France as a case study.

In France, women earn on average 14.9% less than men for the same working hours, with this gap narrowing to 4% for comparable positions.

Despite substantial legislative efforts, including laws from 1972 to 2018 aimed at promoting gender pay equality, significant salary disparities persist.

The 2018 law introduced a mandatory annual “gender equality index” for companies with at least 50 employees, yet inequities remain.

At the EU level, directives mandate equal pay, but a 13% gap persists across the Union.

Positive discrimination and quotas have been suggested as solutions, but these measures can have mixed outcomes, highlighting the need for innovative approaches starting from education and training.

For more details on the current situation about such salary gap and gender inequality, please read here the full article from Harvard Business Review France.

What solutions would you suggest beyond the legal framework? What can organizations do to reduce the salary gap? How can we encourage companies to make a move in such regard?

Here are some actions that we can perform:

  • train our society raising awareness on the topic and promoting “male professions” amoung young females. For example, many young women are being exposed to the development of STEM skills.
  • human resources management: implemeting policies that support both parents parental leave and childcare solutions
  • creare think tanks to encourage discussion and best pratices exchange


Beyond laws, gender equality – and the implicit gap salary – is a matter of education and management. Thus, changing mentalities begins with individual awareness among women themselves.

We also suggest to read this article here on DEI Recruitment.

GBO Human Resources – ISPA Partner in France