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PA Enterprise
Take action now, or it will never
change: gender pay gap harms the
economy, business leaders warned
‘If we are going to make any progress, then we need full transparency about
pay. If companies won’t introduce it then we call upon the Government to
enforce it’
Business leaders have been warned to “take
action now” to close the gender pay gap, or
prepare to see the economy suffer.
Campaigners urged caution after new research
revealed that female directors at the UK’s biggest
companies are still being paid a fraction of the
amount of their male colleagues.
On average, the pay for a FTSA 100 female
director is £237,000 – just over a quarter of the
£875,900 paid to their male counterparts, analysis
by the New Street Consulting Group found.
The figures indicate that the gender pay gap is far
worse at blue-chip companies and in the overall
population.
Female directors are paid 73% less, compared to
women in the broader jobs market who are paid
15% less than men in the same roles.
“Unless we take action now, things will never
change,” says international leadership trainer and
executive career coach Hira Ali. “Male allies need
to be transparent with female colleagues about
the pay you are getting for the same position. In
this way, female colleagues have a better idea of
how to negotiate.
“Organisations need to stop asking what the
previous salary was and then offer a salary
bracket instead so they know what the offer is. If
they don’t know, they won’t negotiate.
4 August/September 2021
“Women are getting short-changed. And it has to
stop.”
Alison Henderson, policy and research manager
at the Fawcett Society, a charity campaigning for
gender equality and women’s rights, said that
the “disappointing figures” reflected that, despite
progress made on pay gap reporting by the
Government in recent years, it was “still thriving
in the boardroom of some of our country’s most
influential companies”.
“There are not enough women in top roles and
those who have made it are all too often paid less
than men,” she said.
“We need to see more women in positions
of power and we need organisations to take
decisive action where they have persistent pay
gaps.
“It isn’t enough just to report data, employers
must publish action plans showing how they will
tackle their pay gap and then do just that.
“McKinsey data shows that closing the gender
pay gap is not only good for individuals and
businesses, it will also benefit our economy to the
tune of £150bn.”
Dr Wanda Wyporska, the executive director of
The Equality Trust, called on the Government to
enforce full pay transparency at top companies.
She said it was a “global disgrace” that women are
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