Women managers earn £8k less than male colleagues
●Gender pay gap above 20 per cent ● Yet Scotland is still ‘fairest’ in UK
Scotland’s gender pay gap for managers now stands at around £8,000, according to a study published today.
The gap is the lowest for any part of the UK, but the figures have prompted a renewed call for more action to tackle the issue, particularly in senior roles.
The difference in average salary in managerial roles north of the Border is 21.5 per cent, analysis by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and online staffing resource Xperthr found.
They discovered that the average annual salary of a female manager stands at £28,622, but jumps to £36,457 for their male counterparts, a difference of £7,835. The figures include salary and bonuses, as well as perks such as a car allowance and commission.
Scotland beat every other UK region, including London and the south-east of England, and came in well below the Uk-wide average pay gap of 26.8 per cent.
Last night, employability and training minister Jamie Hepburn said the Scottish Government was dedicated to closing the pay gap and was “working to ensure women are better-represented in senior and decision-making roles and taking action to challenge pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
“We are also investing in programmes to help women get back into work after a career break.”
The highest gap was found to be in the Midlands, at 29.7 per cent or £12,707, with inner London ranking
fifth at £14,455 and the southeast tenth at £8,795.
The gender pay gap issue was thrust back into the national spotlight earlier this year after the BBC released the salaries of its top stars. The corporation’s Scotland editor Sarah Smith and presenter Kirsty Wark were among those to sign a letter demanding immediate action to tackle it.
The CMI and Xperthr said salary data was examined in the wake of UK government reporting regulations that came into effect in April, obliging firms with at least 250 employees to publicly disclose in the next year the size of their gender pay gap, but finding that less than 1 per cent have met their obligations. Just 77 out of 7,850 eligible employers had done so by 22 September.
The report also shows that women are twice as likely to fill junior management positions as men (at about twothirds and a third respectively), while men are roughly three times more likely to occupy senior positions (at about 74 per cent and 26 per cent respectively).
However, for women who do progress to more senior roles, the pay gap started to widen “considerably”, with men at director level earning an average of £175,673 and women £141,529.
CMI chief executive Ann Francke said: “Too many businesses are like ‘glass pyramids’ with women holding the majority of lower-paid junior roles and far fewer reaching the top.
“We now see those extra perks of senior management roles are creating a gender pay gap wider than previously understood. The picture is worst at the top, with male CEOS cashing in bonuses six times larger than female counterparts.”
The average bonus for a male chief executive came in at £89,230 compared with £14,945 for a woman. The analysis also suggested that while salary and bonuses are picking up for both men and women, the benefits were going disproportionately to men. Male directors picked up a 5.8 per cent increase in pay and bonuses, against 3.7 per cent for their female equivalents.
Ms Francke added: “Our data shows we need the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations more than ever before. Time for more companies to step up and put plans in place to fix this issue. It’s essential if UK companies are to survive and thrive in the post-brexit world.”
Xperthr content director Mark Crail said: “Some people have tried to explain the gender pay gap away as being the result of different working hours or individual career choices. But when the analysis is based on the pay of more than 100,000 individuals in well over 400 organisations,
ANN FRANCKE, CMI
it is clear that the pay gap is a very real fact of life for UK managers.”
The CMI and Xperthr also said companies face increasing pressure to follow the new regulations in disclosing gender pay, but also to publish an action plan detailing the practical steps they are proposing to close the gap.
They cited research published last year by management consultants Mckinsey, discovering that achieving parity would add up to £150 billion a year to the UK economy by 2025, although 1.5 million of the 1.9 million new managers needed by 2024 would need to be women to achieve balance.
The CMI also said previous research found that four out of five managers had witnessed some form of gender discrimination in the workplace.
But there was evidence of the financial benefits of gender diversity from a separate report out today by energy giant SSE, which said it was the first FTSE 100 company to publish its gender pay gap.
The Perth-based firm, which has more than 20,000 staff, said it has calculated the financial value generated via its investment in inclusion and diversity initiatives between 2014 and 2017. For every £1 invested by SSE, there was a £4.52 return for gender diversity initiatives undertak- en over the three-year period, and it sees the potential to increase this to £15.
“Our data shows we need the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations more than ever before”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has often said she wishes her political success to act as an inspiration to girls and young women. We hope it does; Ms Sturgeon stands as a shining example to more than half the population that one can achieve one’s ambitions, regardless of gender.
But the careers of the First Minister and other high-profile women cannot conceal the reality that true equality in the workplace has not yet been achieved. New research shows that the pay gap between male and female managers in Scotland is 21.5 per cent, an average of almost £8,000 a year. We may talk of glass ceilings being smashed but, time and again, women are less valued than men by employers.
There are a number of reasons that this state of affairs was able to develop. Historically – in the days when gender inequality was par for the course – jobs that were seen as “women’s work” were less valued than those more often associated with men. And to this day, sectors that attract a high proportion of female staff – primary education, for example, or nursing – offer salaries that many believe inadequate. And if a woman succeeds into breaking into what might be seen as the professional “man’s world”, she would be wrong to expect the same salary as a male counterpart.
Any number of tribunal cases have confirmed that many private companies are perfectly comfortable – as long as the facts remain secret – paying women less than they pay men. Glasgow City Council – facing a £500 million bill after losing a legal battle for female workers to be compensated for years of lower wages – is just one organisation learning that discriminating against women can be a (rightly) costly business.
It shouldn’t need to be said in 2017 that women are men’s equals and should be treated as such, but the depressing truth is that, as this latest pay survey shows, it’s a truth that very much bears reassertion.
Clearly, action is required to bring about gender equality in the workplace. But while legislation can take care (in theory) of black and white issues such as pay, it cannot change a business culture that often seems to run on testosterone.
Energy provider SSE may have something to teach others here. It has published a report on inclusion and diversity and outlined a series of commitments, aimed at creating gender balance. Employers across Scotland should consider following suit.