Men's City bonuses five times size of women's
Men in the finance sector are taking home an average bonus five times the size of their female colleagues, according to a Government-commissioned report into City pay.
A survey of the sector, undertaken by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, showed that the average performance related pay for women was just £2,875 compared to £14,554 for men. There was also a startling distance between basic pay with women earning 39pc less than men.
The report highlights how City firms have one of the highest gender pay gaps in the UK economy, with women working full-time earning 55 per cent less salary than men, compared to a pay gap of 28 per cent for the economy generally.
It comes in the wake of finance ministers from the G20 group of nations meeting in London, failing to agree to cap individual bankers' bonuses, though there are plans to limit the amount each bank can hand out in performance-related pay.
Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: “The Financial sector has the potential to play a central role in Britain’s recovery. But it has to address this shocking disparity of rewards. For business to thrive in the new economy it simply can’t afford to recruit and reward in the way it has done in the past.”
He threatened to compel individual companies to publish details of their staff's salaries if they failed to improve discrepancies in pay between male and female workers. "Fines are not a problem for these companies. It is illumination [they dislike]," he said.
The report recommends finance companies appoint a board member to champion the issues of pay inequality and The Commission said it would now start working with finance companies to develop solutions to the pay inequalities identified in the report.
The Commission surveyed 50 companies employing nearly a quarter of all workers in the sector.
Mr Phillips said: “By bringing down arbitrary barriers, and changing practices that, intentionally or not, inhibit women’s success, financial firms have the chance to boost morale, bring on new talent, and maximise the potential of their existing employees.”
Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, who commissioned the study, said the report shone a spotlight on discrimination against women in the financial sector.
"It's unlikely that men-only boards and management would ever deliver the change in working culture, such as family-friendly flexible working and childcare, that will allow women to flourish in the workplace," she said.
Just 11 per cent of directors of FTSE 100 companies are female.
John Cridland, deputy director general of the employers' group CBI, said: "No sector is immune from tackling the gender pay gap, and this report highlights that in parts of the financial services sector there is some further distance to go.
"But, as in many other areas of business, women applying for the top jobs need more flexibility with hours and childcare responsibilities."
City's women are cheap,
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