Workplace Bias, Maternity Breaks Result in Over 20% Gender Pay Gap, say 45% Professionals: Report

Almost every one in two respondents (45%) in a survey said they believe that there is over 20% gender pay gap in the country mainly due to career breaks after children and workplace bias, a report said on Thursday.

More than half of the professionals (51%) identified maternity breaks as the single biggest reason behind the gender pay gap in India, while 27% pointed to workplace bias, the way women are perceived at work, as the primary cause.

Importantly, the report found that both men and women share this view and this belief was strongest in IT (56%), pharma (55%), and automobile (53%).

The impact of career breaks is especially evident among professionals in the 5-10 years (54%) and 10-15 years (53%) experience brackets, life stages when maternity breaks are most common, added the report.

This Naukri report is based on a survey among over 20,000 professionals across 80 industries and eight cities.

Further among the sectors, half of all professionals surveyed (50%) flagged IT as the industry with the widest gender pay gap, far outpacing real estate (21%), FMCG (18%), and banking (12%), said the report.

Geographically, India's technology hubs, Hyderabad (59%) and Bengaluru (58%), reported the highest concerns about IT pay inequities, it said.

Sectors like aviation (57%), education (52%), and IT (50%) reflected sharper perceptions of inequality, traditional industries such as oil & gas and retail offered a more positive outlook.

In oil & gas, more than 1 in 4 respondents said the gap was negligible (0-5%), the report added.