The gender pay gap in Lithuania has widened, with men earning 13 percent more than women in comparable positions. A European Union directive will enter into force in 2026, requiring employers to report on the gender pay gap – which must not exceed 5 percent.
The telecoms company Bitė employs around 1,000 people, 60 percent of whom are women and 40 percent men. The company says that those who do the same job receive the same fixed remuneration, but bonuses vary.
“Depending on experience, performance and effort, the flexible part of the salary can certainly always vary,” says Eglė Staniulionė, head of HR at Bitė.
Lithuania’s constitution stipulates that men and women must be paid the same wage for the same work, which includes all bonuses.
“The gap has widened. While last year women’s salaries were around 12 percent lower than men’s, this year the gap has widened to 13 percent,” says Jekaterina Rojaka, head of Business Strategy and Development at Creditinfo. “The biggest difference is in finance and insurance. The gap is more than 2,000 euros, which is up to 40 percent.”
Some businesses, however, dispute that the gap is that wide.
“When you do a job analysis, you take company A, company B, you take men and women working there, you compare salaries in the same positions, and then there is usually a difference of about 4–5 percent,” says Povilas Blusius, a remuneration expert at Figure Baltic advisory.
The Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson receives few complaints about gender-based pay. They say that workers are still afraid to seek justice, and they do not know exactly how much their co-workers earn, since many employers forbid their employees to discuss their pay. They only come forward when they suspect there’s discrimination. Sometimes no discrimination is found, but there have been clear violations.
One example – bonuses for male singers with particular voices.
“The tenor was the most valued. [...] Discrimination was found,” says Laima Vengalė-Dits of the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson.
The EU has adopted a directive which stipulates that pay for men and women will not exceed 5 percent for work of equal value. Employers with more than 100 employees will also have to provide regular reports on the gender pay gap, and employees will be able to ask for this information. This will have to come into force from 2026.
Lithuanian employers seem rather sceptical about the measures.
“I believe that wages are best regulated by the market,” insists Staniulionė of Bitė. “Such an intervention in the market will create confusion, there will be some bureaucratic requirements that will burden employers, and it is unlikely that we will see any significant changes.”
But the measure is supported by trade unions.
“We are now busting the taboo that you can’t ask your employer or your colleague about their salary,” says Inga Ruginienė, president of the Confederation of Trade Unions. “The more information a worker has, the more he or she can control the processes of discrimination.”
According to Blusius, the renumeration expert, theoretically the EU directive should narrow the gap, but he is sceptical that it will actually achieve it.
And there are many more types of discrimination in the workplace.
“Why report on the gender gap? Why not report on the difference between the highest earner and the lowest earner? [...] Maybe one of them is a 60-year-old man and maybe he is discriminated against because of his age. From that point of view, the directive has some populist elements,” comments Blusius.
“The demand for workers is huge, the supply is smaller, and if you don’t look at workers correctly [...] through their salary, through their gender, then you simply don’t get the workers,” believes Andrius Romanovskis, president of the Business Confederation.
The government will be empowered to impose sanctions, such as fines, on employers who break the rules of the directive.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
