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Glossary termPublished inPay Transparency

Gender pay gap

Also known as genderloonkloof

What does "Gender pay gap" mean under the Pay Transparency Directive?

The difference in average pay levels between female and male workers of an employer expressed as a percentage of the average pay level of male workers

Defined in / by

Last updated: 14 October 2026.

One employer, average pay, men as the base

The gender pay gap in the Pay Transparency Directive is measured per employer. It takes the average pay level of the employer's female workers and of its male workers, and expresses the difference as a percentage of the men's average. An illustration: if men at an employer average €50,000 in gross annual pay and women €45,000, the gap is €5,000 divided by €50,000, or 10 percent.

That makes it a different number from the figure in recital 15, which puts the Union gender pay gap at 13 % in 2020 across the whole economy. Recital 15 names several causes of that gap, including gender stereotypes, horizontal segregation and unequal sharing of care responsibilities, and says it is partly caused by direct and indirect pay discrimination.

Article 9(1) uses the term three times: the gender pay gap itself, the gap in complementary or variable components, and the gap between workers by categories of workers, broken down by ordinary basic wage or salary and complementary or variable components. The joint pay assessment in Article 10(1) starts from a narrower test: a difference in average pay level of at least 5 % in any category of workers that the employer has neither justified on objective, gender-neutral criteria nor remedied within six months of reporting.

The Dutch bill's wording

The Dutch implementing bill (Kamerstuk 36949) calls it loonkloof:

het verschil in gemiddelde loonniveaus tussen de vrouwelijke en mannelijke werknemers van een werkgever, uitgedrukt in percentages van het gemiddelde loonniveau van mannelijke werknemers

The wording follows the Directive, and the bill lets an order in council define loonkloof further (new Article 1(3)). As at 13 October 2026 the bill is not yet law.

Questions and answers

How is the gender pay gap calculated under the Pay Transparency Directive?

Take the difference between the average pay level of an employer's female workers and that of its male workers, and express it as a percentage of the male workers' average pay level. That is the definition in Article 3(1), point (c), of Directive (EU) 2023/970.

Does a gender pay gap of 5 percent trigger a joint pay assessment?

Not on its own. Article 10(1) of Directive (EU) 2023/970 looks at a difference in average pay level of at least 5 % within a category of workers, and only where the employer has not justified it on objective, gender-neutral criteria and has not remedied it within six months of submitting the pay report.

Glossary

  • Category of workers

    Workers performing the same work or work of equal value grouped in a non-arbitrary manner based on the non-discriminatory and objective gender-neutral criteria referred to in Article 4(4), by the workers’ employer and, where applicable, in cooperation with the workers’ representatives in accordance with national law and/or practice.

  • Quartile pay band

    Each of four equal groups of workers into which they are divided according to their pay levels, from the lowest to the highest.

  • Median gender pay gap

    The difference between the median pay level of female and median pay level of male workers of an employer expressed as a percentage of the median pay level of male workers.

  • Pay level

    Gross annual pay and the corresponding gross hourly pay.

  • Pay

    The ordinary basic or minimum wage or salary and any other consideration, whether in cash or in kind, which a worker receives directly or indirectly (complementary or variable components) in respect of his or her employment from his or her employer.

Regulations

  • Pay Transparency Directive (Loontransparantie)

    The Pay Transparency Directive, Directive (EU) 2023/970, had to be transposed by 7 June 2026. The Dutch bill (Kamerstuk 36949) targets 1 January 2027 and has employers with 150 or more workers file a first pay gap report by 7 June 2028, on 2027. As at 13 October 2026 it awaits a vote in the Tweede Kamer.

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    Wet implementatie Richtlijn loontransparantie mannen en vrouwen enters into force