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Gender pay gap widens

07/11/2007

The gender pay gap in the British boardroom has widened, according to new research.

An analysis of pay levels across 1,200 organisations found that on average female executives earned 22 per cent less than their male counterparts.

The level represents a widening of the gender pay gap for the country's top bosses, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD), with women paid about 19 per cent less than men last year.

Its analysis of 3,945 jobs found that the gender pay gap was biggest within the service and voluntary sectors, where female directors earned around 26 per cent less than their male counterparts.

Within the service sector the average salary for a female director is £56,933, compared to £70,657 for a man.

The public sector has the narrowest gender pay gap for executives, with women earning an estimated five per cent less than men.

Meanwhile, although female directors within the financial services industry continue to earn around nine per cent less than their male counterparts, the gap is continuing to narrow. Last year women executives in the sector would found to earn 14 per cent less than men, while the figure stood at 35 per cent just two years ago.

However IoD director general Miles Templeman said evidence that the overall gender pay gap was rising for directors was "extremely disappointing".

Warning that businesses would have to act quickly in order to avoid regulation to close the gap, he added: "It is wholly unacceptable in this day and age that it appears that women in comparable positions do not receive the same rewards as their male counterparts."

But while the gender pay gap in the boardroom appears to be increasing, official figures released today indicate that there is growing parity between the pay levels of men and women across the economy as a whole.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the gender pay gap, as measured by the average hourly wage rate, narrowed to its lowest level since records began between 2006 and 2007.

Data released by the government's statistics agency shows that the gap between men and women's hourly pay is now 12.6 per cent, down from 12.8 per cent in April 2006.