Below is an excerpt from ISS-Corporate’s recently released article “Gender Pay Equity: Assessing Corporate Transparency and Performance”. The full article is available on the ISS-Corporate online library.
In recognition of the recently observed Women’s History Month in March and the United Nations-recognized International Women’s Day (March 8), ISS-Corporate reviews the state of pay equity practices based on corporate disclosures, with a focus on gender. The analysis includes an overview of legislation and shareholder initiatives that influence gender pay gap disclosures, while also sharing a review of disclosure data across geographic regions, as well as quantitative gender pay gap figures for publicly held companies.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Regulatory mandates are set to transform pay equity disclosures, including increasing requirements for gender pay gap information in various jurisdictions.
- Gender-pay-gap disclosures tend to reflect established and emerging regulatory reporting requirements, but many companies make disclosures voluntarily, prompted by an increasing demand for transparency by investors and other stakeholders.
- Disclosure levels vary significantly by region and by sector. In North America, where disclosures are voluntary, companies in the Financial, Real Estate, and Health Care sectors demonstrate the highest levels of disclosure.
- Many companies have proceeded to manage and disclose pay equity as a sustainable business practice to protect against risks and to capture opportunities in their human capital management programs.
By:
Kosmas Papadopoulos, Head of Americas Sustainability Advisory Team, ISS-Corporate
Sandra Herrera Lopez, Vice President ESG Content and Data Analytics, ISS-Corporate
Sara Derian, Senior Associate, Sustainability Advisor, ISS-Corporate
Daniel Feinberg, Senior Associate, Sustainability Advisor, ISS-Corporate
