Chester named UK's most sexist city in gender pay gap poll

Men are being paid up to 54% more than women in some cities, new research reveals.

A study by jobs site Adzuna named Chester as the most "sexist" city in the UK, with women being paid an average of £25,000 a year compared with £38,000 for men.

The gender pay difference was said to be 39% across the South East, while the smallest margin of 19% was in Belfast.

Second on the list of cities with the biggest gender pay difference was Crawley in Sussex (50%), followed by Warrington (48%), High Wycombe (47%) and Worcester (45%).

The smallest gender pay gap was found in Belfast, followed by Southend (20%), Brighton (21%), Glasgow (23%) and Luton (23%).

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, said: "This needs to be a rude awakening to cities up and down the UK that more must be done to bridge the gender pay gulf.

"In some cities, men are earning up to 54% more than women, an unacceptable pay difference that is holding back productivity in the jobs market. There is no easy fix to even-out pay levels, but employers must show more support to female staff.

"We can boost women in the workplace by helping them return to work after career breaks, allowing more flexible working options, and supporting women into higher paid, higher level roles.

"The number of women in executive level positions remains far too low. Keeping women working, and allowing them to reach their full potential will fire up productivity levels and pay dividends."

The report was based on a study of more than 155,000 CVs of recent jobseekers.