The peer review was hosted by the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs and focused on how legislative measures and digital tools targeted at employers can help increase pay transparency and ultimately reduce the gender pay gap.

According to Eurostat, the average gender pay gap in the EU-27 was 14.1% in 2018, varying from 1.4% in Luxembourg to 21.8% in Estonia.

Closing the gender pay gap requires a comprehensive approach tackling a variety of root causes, including gender stereotypes, gender segregation of educational and labour market choices, unequal representation in decision-making, unequal sharing of care responsibilities, challenges in finding work-life balance and discrimination.

European Commission actions

In 2014, the European Commission recommended that pay transparency measures are implemented in all Member States to help combat discriminatory pay practices by employers (Recommendation on Pay Transparency (2014/124/EU)). However, several Member States have still not implemented any such measures and as a result Ursula von der Leyen announced in 2019 the European Commission’s intention to develop a proposal for introducing binding pay transparency measures.

Looking for best practices

The Peer Review supported future policy discussions aimed at finding ambitious and effective legislative pay transparency measures that are proportional and do not place excessive administrative and financial burdens on public and private sector organisations. It also discussed the use of supporting measures, such as digital tools.

During the Peer Review, the following topics were discussed:

• what are the most effective (legally binding) measures to increase pay transparency and what are the pre-conditions for their successful implementation? How can the effectiveness be evaluated/monitored?
• what pay transparency measures are suitable for: 1) micro (fewer than 10 employees) and 2) small (fewer than 50 employees) organisations?
• what are the criteria for an effective supervisory and support framework for legally binding pay transparency measures?
• how could the state help employers to ascertain ‘work of equal value’ in their organisation?
• what are the main characteristics of an effective, cost-efficient and user-friendly digital tool to support employers in fulfilling legal pay transparency obligations or voluntary measures, whilst also helping to avoid an excessive administrative burden?
• are audits/analysis at organisational level more effective in tackling gender pay gap when concentrating strictly on pay (for the same work or work of equal value) or when taking a more integrated/wider look at the gender (in)equality situation, causes and necessary improvement measures?
• what good and promising practices exist in terms of supporting and encouraging employers to take voluntary (i.e. not foreseen by law) measures to promote gender equality in an organisation? How can trade unions, employers’ organisations, as well as employee/employer representatives in a specific workplace encourage and support organisations in promoting gender equality and the equal pay principle?