Estonia
BPW Estonia Equal Pay Day Report 2012
Equal Pay Day in Estonia was held on April 19. The gender pay gap in Estonia is 27,6% (Eurostat 2008) which ranks Estonia to the last position in Europe. Women in Estonia need to work until April 19 to get the same average annual income as men did for 2011.
The campaign in 2012 was focused on attitudes and obsolescent gender stereotypes which seems to be the most difficult and challenging obstacle to narrow the pay gap.
The campaign involved the following activities:
The campaign in 2012 was focused on attitudes and obsolescent gender stereotypes which seems to be the most difficult and challenging obstacle to narrow the pay gap.
The campaign involved the following activities:
- Form a task force for the Equal Pay Day campaign
- Collect attitudes and worn-out wisdom about stereotypes and role of women and men related to career and earnings and publish them on the Facebook site "Tilliga ja Tillita".
- Involve a big media-friendly company to our campaign additional to restaurants. Statoil was approached, but decided to not join for the 2012 campaign due to timeline reasons.
- Celebrate Equal Pay Day on April 19 "Tilliga ja tillita" - invite cafes and restaurants all over Estonia to join the campaign serving salmon (means also "gap" in Estonian) meals for 2 different prices with dill 27,6% pricier than without dill (humorous word play again). Distribute booklets Managing Pay Gap (issued by EU) and campaign flyers (issued by BPW Estonia) to restaurants.
- Organize an Equal Pay Day Seminar "Woman's successful career" focusing on women career and earnings development and possible ways of narrowing the pay gap. The seminar took place on April 21st and was supported by BPW Europe Equal Pay Day Fund. The presentations were informative and inspiring.
The red bags, umbrellas and other symbols of Equal Pay Day by other BPW affiliates were displayed at the seminar to refer to the international collaboration and different means for narrowing the gender pay gap. - Invite other women organizations to join the Equal Pay Day campaign. Women organizations inside Estonian political parties arranged a public demonstration, collected signatures for petition for the government to take
quick and effective steps narrowing the pay gap between women and men. - Be involved in other events related to Equal Pay Day or pay gap issues. On March 5th there was a conference and a debate about gender pay gap in the Center of European Parliament in Estonia. Pille Ruul, the president of BPW Estonia was one of the key speakers. On March 15 Pille Ruul was a speaker in the International Pay Gap Conference in Marseille organized by BPW Marseille. Together with the Ministry of Social Affairs 4 Pay Gap Seminars were organized in the biggest cities: Tartu, Pärnu, Rakvere and Narva. Pille Ruul was a speaker there, too. The presentation was about ?Causes and Consequences of gender Pay Gap in Estonia. Attitudes and stereotypes. Campaign ?Tilliga and Tillita? by BPW Estonia since 2010?.
- Get good media coverage for the campaign. Agree with respectable opinion leaders in Estonia to publish articles in local media. In 2012 the press covered the European Equal Pay Day on 5 March and on 19 April 2012 Several media interviews with BPW-Estonia president Pille Ruul were conducted and BPW got good media coverage about the Equal Pay Day activities in Estonia. BPW Estonia's Equal Pay Day Campaigns have been visible and the organization has gained popularity. Equal Pay Day is called a "Salary-Salmon Day".
"Salary-salmon" has become a national fish in Estonia.