Private sector’s growing interest in equal pay certification programme
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The gender pay gap remains a significant challenge in Georgia. According to 2024 data, the country’s unadjusted monthly gender pay gap stands at 32 per cent. At the same time, every second person believes that men earn more than women because they are the main breadwinners in their families.
To transform stereotypical attitudes and discriminatory workplace practices, UN Women works closely with the private sector. This cooperation aims to equip companies with the knowledge and practical tools needed to introduce the principle of equal pay, take concrete action, and effectively prevent and address unequal remuneration in the workplace.
This is precisely the purpose of the certification programme “Prevention of Unequal Pay: Equal Pay Review and Reporting”, which was held for private sector representatives for the second time this year. A total of 28 participants from 20 different companies completed the training. The three-day course concluded on 11 June.
As a result of the programme, participants gained knowledge of the causes and consequences of the gender pay gap and learned about best practices for identifying gender pay gaps and addressing such cases effectively. Importantly, during the course, they also learned about the significance and application of the Equal Pay Review and Reporting (EPRR) tool.
Natia Japarashvili, Human Capital Lead at CMC LLC and one of the programme participants, says that her main motivation for taking the course was to gain the practical knowledge and learn the methodology needed to prevent unequal pay.
“With the help of the EPRR tool, I conducted a gender review of the company’s existing data,” Natia notes. “This will help us work to reduce potential disparities and make our organizational culture even more equal.”
The EPRR tool was developed in 2021 by the ISET Policy Institute in cooperation with UN Women. It is fully adapted to the Georgian context and helps organizations to easily analyse workplace pay issues, compare the pay of employees who perform equal work, and detect and promptly eliminate gender-based discrimination.
The certification programme “Prevention of Unequal Pay: Equal Pay Review and Reporting” was developed and implemented within the framework of the UN Women regional project “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus”. The project is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). At the same time, this year’s course formed part of UN Women’s programme “Women’s Increased Leadership for Resilient and Peaceful Societies”. Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the programme is implemented by UN Women country offices in Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, with the support of the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.