#genderpay

Today, April 10 is International Equal Pay Day. And in honor of the day, Arjuna Capital and Proxy Impact released their gender pay scorecard.

The scorecard, the first edition of a new annual scorecard, ranks 33 or the world’s largest financial, technology, and retail companies on their gender pay disclosures, performance and commitments. The scorecard looks at the performance and commitments of the companies ranked in five categories: equal pay, median pay gap, racial pay gap, coverage, and commitment.

Some companies earned the highest grade, including Apple, Nike, Starbucks, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan. Other companies like Facebook, Goldman Sachs and Walmart are among the 11 companies with the worst grade.

There is a bit of great news. Five companies reported they have 100 percent equal pay, including Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Starbucks. Thirteen of the 33 companies  report gender pay gap percentages of 99 percent to 99.9 percent.

“The Gender Pay Scorecard shows that some of the biggest and best known companies in the world are still behind the curve on equal pay,” said Natasha Lamb, managing partner, Arjuna Capital, in a statement. “It’s not enough to pay lip service to pay equity, to simply say that women are paid fairly, investors expect meaningful disclosures and goals to close the gender pay gap.”

“We feel strongly that the continued growth of the gender pay gap shareholder campaign, combined with the new annual scorecard identifying industry leaders and laggards, will help improve corporate disclosure and practices, advancing the goal of equal pay for equal work,” said Michael Passoff, CEO, Proxy Impact.

Disclosing gender pay gaps, ethnic/racial pay gaps, and reporting globally

More companies will start disclosing gender pay gaps. Four companies committed to publishing their pay gap numbers by the end of of 2018. Fourteen companies committed to annual disclosures, and American Express and Reinsurance Group of America committed to ongoing disclosure instead of annual.

The gender pay gap is wider for African American and Latina women, with gaps of 62 percent and 55 percent. Thirteen companies committed to reporting their racial and ethnic pay gaps.

While some companies report on the operations within their country of origin, they are multi-national. No companies have disclosed their global median gender pay gaps, but 14 companies have a goal to report globally.

A look at the technology industry

The tech industry was “the first area of investor focus regarding gender pay inequity, starting with eBay in 2014/2015,” the scorecard notes. It’s a tech company that tops the scorecard list. Apple reports 100 percent equal and racial adjusted pay equity. However, the company received a subcategory score of zero for lack of a global median pay gap disclosure.

Some tech companies are among the bottom of the scorecard. Facebook, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard all received the lowest score for lacking quantitative reporting, commitments, and global coverage. Facebook and HP are below average on median hourly pay. All three companies are below average on the U.K. bonus metric.

Taking the first step

A well known Chinese proverbs says that a journey of a 1,000 miles begins with the first step. The scorecard recommends that companies take a first step and analyze their current pay structures to see if a gender pay gap exists. And if one does, create a plan to close it. Or as the scorecard declares, “Transparently addressing the gender pay gap is essential to achieve equal pay and move more women into positions of leadership.”

Considering that women represent 50 percent of the population, it’s time for them to receive equal pay. And it’s time for companies to take that first step to make it happen.