According to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), women managers of commercial properties and offices in the UK are paid over 33 per cent less than male
managers doing exactly the same job. But will the pay gap decrease or widen over time in this so called equal society that we live in? Movehut looks at the findings.
The study conducted by CMI found that women managers are paid an average of £31,895 whilst a male equivalent receives £42,441. However in a complete twist, junior women managers earn £602 more than their male equivalents. Sandra Pollock, National Chair of Women in Management expressed, “It is wonderful to see that the gender pay gap at junior executive level has closed – and we hope this continues as this generation climb the ranks of management.”
This year female managerial salaries have increased by 2.8 per cent, compared to male salaries which have only increased by 2.3 per cent. However if this rate continues it will take approximately 98 years to achieve equal pay across genders. Petra Wilton, Director of Policy and research said, “Businesses are contributing to the persistent gender pay gap by alienating top female employees by continuing to pay men and women unequally. This kind of bad management is damaging UK businesses and must be addressed.”
The pay gap differs from region to region for business and office managers with Northern Ireland having the largest pay gap of £13,793 whilst Wales has the smallest gap of just £2,441.So is there anything that can be done to help reduce the pay gap quicker than 98 years?
The Equal Pay Act 1970 “prohibits any less favourable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment.” So with the law in place, why is such a gap in pay allowed for different genders doing the same job? Ms Wilton expressed the need for the Government to step in as they, “want the government to scrutinise organisational pay, demand more transparency from companies on pay bandings and publicly expose organisations found guilty of fuelling the gender pay gap.”
The government have already introduced steps to increase the amount of women employed as companies in the FTSE 350 must increase the percentage of women they employee to 25 per cent by 2015. Lord Davies of Abersoch (Former Minister) said, “Many companies can be proud that they have set out their own targets towards achieving greater diversity on their boards, but there are others who are dragging their feet. The rate of female appointments since March is still well below the 25% target that my panel has set, with 47% of all FTSE 250 companies continuing to have all male boards.”
Companies will not face any consequences as yet, but if the percentage of women employed is not met voluntary then penalties will be introduced as Lord Davies expressed, “There is more work to be done and the panel will be reconvening in the autumn to assess progress and agree next steps.”
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