Trends Forecasting Research Document TRENDS FINAL HAND IN FINISH | Page 7

There were a number of equal pay strikes; one of the most famous was in 1968. At Ford’s Dagenham
factory women sewing machinists called a strike due to a re-grading demand. They debated that their
work needed the amount of skill than that of the work of paint spray operators and Eastman Cutters.
Many strikes took place after this; it also caused the formation of the National Joint Action Campaign
Committee for Women’s Equal Rights (WageIndicator, 2016).

In recent statistics from November 2016 the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has
found that the gender pay gap has narrowed, but men still earn 23% more than women. The gap
itself has arrowed by 1.6%, but women in fulltime work still earn $27000 a year less than men.

Financial and insurance services, real estate and construction were the industries with the
largest gender pay gap. The smallest pay gap industries were wholesale trade, education and public
administration and safety. The reports also showed how little women are in leadership roles. 16.3% of
chief executives and 37.4% of management roles were women. (Karp, 2016)
“The data showed women were still under represented in management and leadership roles.” – Libby
Lyons (2016), The WGEA Director.
This establishes that there is still progressive opportunity for females in business. It demonstrates that
women are confident in being powerful in businesses because of the narrowing pay gap, and that
there is in fact girl power in all aspects of the workplace.
Lydia Holland Trend Forecasting Research Document
ocument
7
Figure 4
Figure 5