What Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) And Others Say About Improving Women’s Paycheck

A White House call for companies to do away with gender-based payment inequality is something that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) have agreed to heed. But they are not the only ones among major tech companies willing to pay women as much as men. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) have also pledged to harmonize women’s paycheck to bring them at the same level as male employees.

Apple, Facebook and their tech peers took the opportunity at the anniversary of Women’s Equality Day to make their Equal Pay Pledge. The push to bring women’s pay to the same level as men in the private sector was launched at the United States of Women Summit that was held in June this year.

Pay gap closed

Apple says that it has already succeeded in closing the pay gap between female and male employees on its payroll. However, the company will be looking deeper into its employment system to be sure that no pay gaps remain. In particular, the next phase of remuneration review at Apple will focus on compensations such as stock grants and bonuses. In case there are payment inequalities in those areas, Apple has pledged to fix them so that women on its employment can enjoy the same pay as men.

With Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and IBM signing the Equal Pay Pledge, the number of companies that have done it now stands at 50.

Unfair practice

It is estimated that payment disparity costs women thousands of dollars in earnings over the course of their career. The average American woman is said to get a salary that is 21% below what her male counterpart gets. With that, she ends up losing $0.5 million in the course of her work career.

For the African American woman, the loss is close to $0.9 million and for Latinas the loss could be $1 million or more.

However, the White House has made it clear that paying women less than men inhibits their ability to provide for their families effectively. That is the reason behind the push for Equal Pay Pledge in the private sector.