Female freelancers in Germany charge an average of 11.2 percent less per hour than men working in the same roles.
That's according to a recent study by Remitly for Freelancers, an international payment and invoicing platform, which looked at hourly rates on invoices uploaded on Upwork in various countries around the world.
Germany's gender pay gap for freelancers is smaller than most – out of 54 countries included in the study, it had the fifth lowest average pay gap overall.
But with women freelancers charging an average of $48.61 per hour overall, compared to $54.71 hour for men, the study shows that even here the pay gap is significant. (Remitly listed pay rates for all countries in US dollars.)
Based on these figures, Germany's 'Equal Pay Day' for freelancers falls on February 10th. This means that the average female freelancer is effectively working the first 41 days of the year 'for free' compared to the average male freelancer doing the same kind of work.
The gender pay gap for freelancers did vary immensely between different roles.
In Germany the biggest gap was for Editors, with women doing this work charging 50.5 percent less than men on average ($32.60 per hour compared to $65.92 per hour).
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The average gender pay gap for freelancers across the countries included in the study was 19 percent.
Thailand had the largest average gap, with women there earning 51.7 percent less per hour than men. Croatia had the smallest gender pay gap for freelancers at just 0.3 percent.
If countries were ranked from smallest gender pay gap for freelancers to largest, then Croatia, South Africa, Vietnam, Jamaica and France would all be ahead of Germany in that order.
These figures were based on pay rates on invoices submitted by more than 58,000 freelancers around the world – these were broken down by role, industry and region. The study also relied on gender-api.com to assess the likely gender associated with each freelancer’s name.
Germany behind deadline to update pay transparency rules
This comes as Germany risks violating EU law for failing to implement new pay transparency rules which were intended to help reduce the gender pay gap for contracted workers.
Sunday marked the deadline by which all EU states were supposed to have adapted their national law to include the EU's new pay transparency rules.
Germany has so far failed to do so. The Federal Ministry of Family Affairs recently announced that German law would be adapted in the coming months, by the beginning of 2027.
The EU pay transparency directive requires companies to report information about the difference in salaries between men and women for the same type of work. It also grants workers the right to know what the pay levels are for men and women in similar positions, as well as for bonuses and benefits.
Germany has had its own Pay Transparency Act since 2017, which already allows for employees to demand information about what others doing similar work in their company earn.
However, a government report in 2023 showed that the regulation is rarely used.
READ ALSO: How to find out what your colleagues earn in Germany
The EU Commission could now decide to initiate criminal proceedings against Germany for not enacting the rules on time.
According to the EU Commission, the primary cause of the gender wage gap in Europe is systematic imbalances: for example, that childcare services are not sufficient and that women tend to be given more responsibility for unpaid childcare. Women therefore take longer career breaks.
Another reason, however, is gender-based stereotypes that can affect education, hiring and promotion.
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