Pay inequality means women managers 'work 57 days for free'

Women managers are effectively working for free for 57 days a year because of a gender pay gap, according to a new study.

A survey of 72,000 managers found that women in equivalent full-time jobs earned 22% less than men.

The difference means they are working for an hour and 40 minutes without pay every working day, said the report by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and wage analysts XpertHR.

The gender pay gap for professional roles averages £8,500 a year, rising to almost £15,000 for senior staff, it was discovered.

The gap gets wider as women grow older, ranging from 6% for women aged 26-35, to 38% for the over 60s, said the report.

The research also showed there were fewer older women in executive positions.

Women outnumber men in junior management jobs, but fewer than one in four are on company boards, just short of a 25% target set by a Lord Davies-led study.

Ann Francke, chief executive of the CMI, said: "Working for free two hours a day is unacceptable. While some progress is being made, it's clear from our research that Lord Davies is right to target the executive pipeline.

"Having more women in senior executive roles will pave the way for others and ensure they're paid the same as their male colleagues at every stage of their careers."

Mark Crail of XpertHR, added: "An entire generation has now worked its way through from school leaver to retirement since the first equal pay legislation came into effect in 1970, yet the gender pay gap persists, and many employers still prefer not to know just how bad it is in their organisation rather than getting to grips with the data and doing something about it.

"HR and reward specialists in larger companies have a special responsibility to get this firmly on to the senior management agenda and to develop the plans needed to close the gap."

The report said pay transparency was a "powerful driver" for closing the gender gap.

Minister for Women, Equalities and Family Justice Caroline Dinenage, said: "We have more women in work than ever before, 25% of boards are now made of women and the gender pay gap is the lowest on record – and whilst I am proud of the progress made, we must go much further.

"This is why we will be requiring companies with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap, to ensure the economy fully benefits from women's talents and fairly rewards them.

"I would encourage all companies to have their say on the consultation to help us eliminate the gender pay gap in a generation."

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "The UK will never really address the problem of unequal pay until there are systems in place to expose and tackle the huge gap between what men and women doing similar jobs in the same workplaces are paid.

"The Government's move to require companies to publish pay gap information is positive, but it doesn't go far enough. We need pay transparency and equal pay audits, and a requirement on companies to act on the data to close the gap."

Shadow minister for women and equalities Gloria De Piero said: "We've tolerated this inequality for too long.

"We're pleased that the Government have finally accepted Labour's proposals for pay transparency but they must also ensure that all the information published leads to action by tasking the independent Equality and Human Rights Commission with the job of compiling and analysing the data each year in an 'Annual Equal Pay Check' that monitors progress to end the pay gap this generation."

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: "This report reveals the worrying extent of the gender pay gap in management and senior levels. Employers need to look at how many women are at the top of their organisations and how they get there. We need to identify and address the barriers that prevent women from progressing and maintain the pipeline of talent.

"One way forward would be to ensure that senior roles are advertised on a part-time basis or as a job-share unless there is a good business case for not doing so."