There's no pay gap between men and women at retailer The Gap. The company brought in a third-party consulting firm, 1-to-1 Ratio, reports BuzzFeed, and the gender/diversity consultant confirmed The Gap's equality claim after an audit.
The Gap chose to release the news on the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
BuzzFeed said there's a national trend toward gender equity in pay these days, although myriad studies, including one released in March by President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors, show that in general women are paid substantially less than men for the same work. The Council's study said that women overall earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns in a similar job. Other studies have shown that women who are their family's sole provider earn substantially less than sole-provider males.
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But the happy news about Gap's respect for gender equity in pay wasn't about to be dashed by such dismal statistics.
"We have a proud tradition of developing and promoting strong women leaders and mentors – from our stores to our divisions to our senior management," Gap Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Glenn Murphy said in an emailed statement to BuzzFeed. "More than 70 percent of our workforce is female. Removing gender bias from pay practices is the right thing to do and it is good for business."
Is "removing gender bias" good for business? The Gap reported flat store-to-store sales in its latest quarterly report to shareholders, but its profit margin exceeded Wall Street estimates. Although it reported depressed gross margins for the quarter, those were offset by slashed operating expenses.
See also: Gender gap on financial literacy closing
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
