Most people believe men and women are paid equally

New research by job listing site Glassdoor shows that most people believe men and women are paid equally despite several reports pointing to a huge gender pay gap.

Seven in 10 employed adults in seven countries believe men and women are paid equally by their employer. However, more men believe this than women, with only 70% of females saying there’s equal pay for equal work compared to 77% of males.

A whopping 89% of those surveyed in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland believe that men and women should be paid equally. Americans are the biggest believers in equality, with 93% of respondents saying a pay gap is wrong.

Three out of five employees say they wouldn’t apply for a job at a company if they knew a gender pay gap existed, with women less likely to do so than men. This suggests that companies hoping to attract top talent should be transparent about their pay practices.

Among those who do believe there’s a pay gap at their company in the US, nearly half (45%) believe new policies around compensation can help to fix the problem. More than a third across the world are looking to governments to create legal requirements for employees to be paid equally.

Transparency on pay practices ranks highly among Americans (34%) and 27% across the globe say internal policies such as HR sharing salary figures for all roles can help improve the state of gender pay gaps.