Gender pay gap increase should be ‘wake-up call’ to businesses

CAMPAIGNERS HAVE called on employers to tackle discrimination after new figures revealed more than half of Yorkshire’s local authorities had a gender pay gap higher than the national average in 2019 - an increase on the previous year.

Analysis of median hourly pay has shown 12 out of 19 Yorkshire authorities had a gender pay gap exceeding the UK average of 8.9 per cent in 2019. In 2018, only nine Yorkshire local authorities had a pay gap exceeding the UK average.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that in the worst-performing area - Richmondshire - women were paid on average more than £4 per hour less than men. Equalities groups said “seeing the gap widen should be a wake-up call”, while Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) leaders have insisted businesses in the region are “committed to addressing issues around gender pay gaps”.

The analysis comes as people across the world this weekend mark International Women’s Day, celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Certain areas in North Yorkshire had particularly pronounced gender pay gaps in the analysis. Richmondshire’s gender pay gap stood at about 27 per cent in 2019, while in Ryedale the gap widened from just 6.7 per cent in 2018 to 23.9 per cent the following year.

Sam Alexander, chairman of the skills and employability board and diversity champion for the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said “occupational segregation” is partly to blame for pay disparity. He added: “As a region, we face significant challenges relating to a gender pay gap and occupational ‘segregation’, which means that

Sam Alexander, chairman of the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership. women are concentrated in occupations with poorer prospects and in low-paid part-time work.”

Not all authorities saw an increase in the pay gap between 2018 and 2019, however. Hambleton’s median pay gap of 11.4 per cent in 2018 closed to below zero, meaning women were actually paid marginally more - 0.8 per cent - than men in 2019. Sheffield, Wakefield and Selby all saw below-average gender pay gaps. A total of 11 out of 19 Yorkshire local authorities saw their gender pay gap narrow between 2018 and 2019. In spite of this, the majority (12) still had an above-average gender pay gap between male and female residents last year.

A spokesperson for the equality charity the Fawcett Society said: “Employers in Yorkshire should be acting now to reduce gender pay gaps that are consistently above the UK average. Too often, women’s work is seen as worth less than men’s. Women get paid less month on month, year on year. Seeing the gap widen should be a wake up call.”

The councils were approached for comment, but referred The Yorkshire Post to the LEP.

Women are concentrated in occupations with poorer prospects.