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Women working in senior finance roles are still earning almost 30 per cent less than their male counterparts, a bigger gender pay gap than every other profession other than wall-tilers.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the average hourly wage for female financial managers and directors is £11.71 less than it is for their male counterparts.
In the past five years the gender pay gap in the finance industry has only fallen by 2.2 percentage points to 28 per cent and is more than three times the average across all professions.
Meanwhile, the gender pay gap in other industries has fallen or diminished — in the advertising industry it fell from 20 per cent in 2019 to 7.5 per cent this year, and in the railway sector female train and tram drivers earn 11.4 per cent more than their male peers — compared with five years ago when there was pay parity.
In its annual report on earnings in the UK the ONS said that the gender pay gap continued to decline, having fallen by almost a quarter over the last decade to 7 per cent.
However, it found that the gender pay gap was largest for employees over the age of 40, particularly those in the highest-paid jobs.
Among chief executives and senior company employees, women on average were paid £6.23 less an hour than their male counterparts.
Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said the ONS’s finding showed that the financial services industry had “long had a very big problem” with gender inequality.
She said: “What we know is that the gender pay gap is worst in sectors traditionally dominated by men and where there is little transparency around pay and progression. Both those things apply to financial services.
“In fact, when you factor in bonuses the situation is even worse.”
Olchawski said that the biggest improvements had been in sectors covered by the national minimum wage — as overall women were disproportionately in low-paid jobs.
She called on the government to take a more “holistic approach” to the problem including banning practices such as employers asking candidates for their previous salaries or their salary expectations.
“That just transfers inequality from one organisation to another,” she warned.
Since 2017 companies with more than 250 employees have had to report their gender pay gaps. Earlier this year the Financial Conduct Authority proposed new rules that would require financial firms to set specific diversity targets to identify under-representation in parts of their organisation.
Banks themselves say the gender pay gap is the result of having fewer women in senior roles which they are working to address.
“The financial services sector is committed to improving its gender pay gap and recognises that there is more work to be done,” a spokesman for UK Finance, which represents large financial institutions, said.
“One of the issues which impacts pay gap figures is the fact that women are often under-represented in senior roles. UK Finance and many of our members are signatories to the Treasury Women in Finance Charter, which commits firms to supporting the progression of women into senior roles.”
According to the ONS, professions with no gender pay gap include bar staff, teaching assistants and biological scientists.
Aside from financial managers and directors, tilers and floorers had the biggest gender pay gap at 39 per cent followed by electrical technicians on 28 per cent and cybersecurity professionals on 27 per cent.
The ONS said the gender pay gap among full-time employees was higher in every English region than in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.
Across most ages the gender pay gap also fell. However, for those aged 50 to 59 years, it increased from 11.1 per cent to 12.1 per cent.
For those aged 18 to 21 years, women were paid slightly more than men on average while the largest gender pay gap decrease was seen among employees aged 22 to 29 years, which fell from 2.5 per cent to 1.3 per cent.