Equal Pay Day - a report by Care Revolution Dortmund

On 6 March 2024, we took part in the Equal Pay Day demonstration, which is organised annually by the Dortmund Action Alliance for Equal Pay Day. This year's motto was the "glass ceiling".

It is intended to symbolise the fact that women are far less likely to be found in management positions because they come up against invisible barriers to advancement. One of these barriers is the traditional gender role. Women predominantly take on the care work in the family. Many women choose professions that are typical for women and are underpaid. Due to the additional care work, women are more often employed part-time or in mini-jobs. These structural barriers have contributed to the binary inequality for years. In order to change this, relief offers for unpaid care work are needed on the one hand by expanding the infrastructure and on the other hand by providing financial support for unpaid carers. Typical female occupations must be socially valorised, and this valorisation must be accompanied by financial improvements. The understanding of gender roles is changing. There needs to be a change in entrepreneurial thinking and the breaking up of encrusted, patriarchal, hierarchical structures in favour of more family friendliness and equal career opportunities. A flexible reduction in working hours can contribute to an equal distribution of unpaid care work and to a reduction in the gender pay gap. Among other things, we are committed to these improvements in equality in the Care Revolution regional group in Dortmund.