Microsoft and Facebook claim to have no gender pay gap
Tech giants Microsoft and Facebook marked Equal Pay Day with announcements that they had closed the gender pay gap.
Both companies still employ a smaller percentage of women than many other US industries; however, efforts to address gender inequality have led the companies to take significant steps in addressing the problem.
Facebook vice president, Matloff Goler, announced today: "I'm proud to share that at Facebook, men and women earn the same.”
Microsoft’s vice president, Kathleen Hogan, declared, “today, for every $1 earned by men, our female employees in the U.S. earn 99.8 cents at the same job title and level”.
Microsoft has previously been criticised for the gender imbalance in its workforce with woman making up just 29 percent of employees, including 17.3 per cent in leadership roles.
CEO Satya Nadella famously came under fire after commenting that women should rely on "karma" instead of asking for pay raises, before later apologising.
Since the company has taken step to address the problem and now has 27.2 per cent of its senior leadership positions held by women. Its shareholder, Arjuna Capital, said Microsoft would banish the pay gap while also making public how much women and US minorities are paid compared to men.
Facebook meanwhile has women representing 31 per cent of its workforce and 23 percent of its management team. In response to the problem, the company expanded its Facebook University internship program to include more underrepresented groups, and launched TechPrep to promote computer science in schools.