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Commentary: Season is changing but sexism in the Square Mile refuses to budge
Chris Blackhurst7 Sep 2009
The summer is slipping into memory, the nights are drawing in... and there's a survey showing sexism in the City is just as constant as it has ever been. Except this is a study with a difference.
We know the Square Mile is bloke-heavy and that very few women make it to the very top of banks (or any sort of company). But what the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found is that like-for-like, women in the City are paid far less than men and the differential is far greater than for the economy as a whole.
It's a gap that takes hold at the very beginning then grows as careers progress and bonuses kick-in. Where those payouts are wholly performance-related, it is difficult to see how things can be redressed.
The City can be a clinical employer. "Eat what you kill" is the pinstripe mantra. If you make the deals, you will get paid accordingly - regardless of your sex.
The tough part is getting into a position where you can make the trades. It's no coincidence trading floors are populated by people in their mid-twenties to forties - just the age range when women are having children.
The City knows women may break to have children -possibly right at the age where job-wise a banker is reaching the peak. Arguably, that is why they're paid less at the outset. That does not make it right.
Making remuneration levels more transparent will go some way to closing the gap. But for it to vanish, a new culture of business is required.
