Exclusive:Gender pay gap a 'failure of the state', says top trade unionist
Roz Foyer says employers have an ‘aversion’ to equal pay.
Scotland’s top trade unionist says the gender pay gap is a “failure of the state”.
STUC general secretary Roz Foyer has criticised employers for their “aversion” to equal pay, as official data shows the mean gender pay gap widened to 10 per cent in 2025.
This is up from 8.3 per cent in 2024 and from 6.4 per cent in 2023.
The growth was even more pronounced in the private sector, where the gender pay gap climbed from 13.1 per cent to 16 per cent. This is compared to a rise from 8.8 per cent to 10 per cent in the public sector.
Ms Foyer said employers must “buck their ideas up” as they are not “doing anywhere near enough” to close the gender pay gap.
She said: “It’s a clear failure of the state to have presided over an increasing gender pay gap which devalues the labour of women and embeds poverty.
“We know the Scottish Government are attempting to make progress and we share their goals to eliminate the gap altogether.
“But it’s abundantly clear that some employers, both in the private and the public sector, have an aversion to progress and they must buck their ideas up if they think they’re doing anywhere near enough to close the gap.”
Her comments come on international equal pay day, a move which was spearheaded by the UN to campaign for better pay equality between men and women.
Ms Foyer added: “The widening divide is driven by deeply entrenched barriers - sky-high childcare costs, low pay and occupational segregation, coupled with the fact that women still carry the vast majority of unpaid care responsibilities.
“Our retail workers and social carers, some of the lowest paid workers with a predominantly female workforce, continue to be denied access to pay and conditions that would both help to close the gender pay gap and give them a wage that values their worth.
“It is high time politicians in both Holyrood and Westminster redouble their efforts whilst we make demands of employers across the country to take decisive action to eliminate this pay gap once and for all.”
Fair Work Minister Tom Arthur said: “I am proud that Scotland continues to have a narrower gender pay gap than the UK, a higher proportion of women earning the real living wage, or more, than the UK, and the highest median gross weekly pay for full-time women in the UK outside of London.
“Despite the fact that employment law is reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government has made progress by ensuring that organisations which receive public funding pay their staff the real living wage and offer flexible working from day one of employment.
“We are also committed to rolling out early learning and childcare to cover children from nine months until the end of primary school.
“However, there is much progress still to be made if we are to close the gender pay gap.
“The Scottish Government will continue to play its part in achieving gender equality; working to break down the barriers faced by women entering the workplace, challenging outdated societal attitudes and pushing the UK Government to devolve employment law so we can make it work best for everyone in Scotland.”
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