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Pay gap is widest in finance where women earn 60% less
Peter Dominiczak9 Apr 2009
WOMEN working in fund management, stockbroking and futures trading are earning up to 60 per cent less than men - a pay gap of more than twice the national average.
Annual earnings for those working in the financial services are about double the national average, but the pay gap is double that in the economy as a whole.
A similar number of women and men work in finance jobs but female employees are less likely to work in the City of London, where many head offices are based, have a degree or work in managerial or senior roles.
On average women full-time employees receive 55 per cent less annual gross pay and 39 per cent less hourly gross pay than men - with fund management, stockbroking and futures trading suffering the worst gap, of 60 per cent. Only 11 per cent of senior managers in the sector are women, compared with 28 per cent in the economy as a whole, according to a report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research on behalf of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
But the higher women rise up the career ladder, the more likely they are to be paid less than men.
Among the highest earners, women earn 45 per cent less while for women in the lowest paid roles the gap is 16 per cent. City workers have come under fire for their hefty bonuses but in this area women miss out even more with a gap of 79 per cent.
Commission chairman Trevor Phillips said: "However you look at the numbers, women do not have equal status or equal rewards. Nobody wants this kind of unfairness, including the businesses themselves." He said the City should concentrate on tackling the inequality as it fights to restore its reputation.
Reader views (4)
Yes, if the author was looking for sympathy it's probably best not to pick stockbrokers, fund managers and traders - all of whom will still earn a multiple of what most reading this do anyway.
"What? You only earn TEN times what I earn? That's outrageous! You're worth at least sixteen times..."
- John, London, 13/04/2009 11:42
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I thought there were loads of studies (which I am too lazy to quote) which showed that women who start out on the same salary as male counterparts wind up with less money later because they undervalue themselves and are thus rubbish and negotiating better pay rises?
It's a bit crass just to make it the employer's fault: a well managed company won't give EVERYONE a pay rise just because one person thought they'd done their job well and asked for a rise: only the public sector does that - look at all the GPs who already earned a stack but who were awarded more because of pay-rises across the board.
- Rozr, France, 10/04/2009 13:02
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Is this because this is a target driven money making business and absent women dont make money. For all the laws and hyperbole of equality, pregnancy = absence = lower pay.
So it is equal really if you deduct child related absence.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, 09/04/2009 23:55
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I earn considerably less than these women. Will someone come to my aid?
- Fred, Horsham, 09/04/2009 17:23
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