Women in management positions will have to wait more than 50 years to achieve equal pay with their male counterparts, according to research conducted by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR.
The CMI’s 2010 National Management Salary Survey, based on data collected from 43,312 employees, showed that at the current rate male and female salaries are increasing the gender pay gap will not be be closed until 2067.
Female salaries increased by 2.8% over the last 12 months, compared to 2.3% for men. The average UK salary for a male manager is currently £10,071 more than that of a female manager, meaning women face a 57-year wait before their take-home pay is equal to that of their male colleagues.
The gap also exists at a junior level with male junior executives receiving £1,065 more than female executives. Across the regions, women in the Midlands fare the worst, taking home £10,434 less while those in the North East fare the best, where the gap is smallest at £8,955.
Pay gaps in IT or the pharmaceutical industry are higher than any other sectors, at £17,736 and £14,018 respectively.
The difficult economic circumstances in the past 12 months combined with unsatisfactory remuneration may have contributed to a dramatic increase in resignations, particularly at director level where 7.7% of female directors voluntarily left their posts in the last year, compared to just 3.6% of men. Female resignations at director level are up from 5.3% the previous year.
CMI’s Head of Policy, Petra Wilton, said: “Girls born this year will face the probability of working for around 40 years in the shadow of unequal pay. The prospect of continued decades of pay inequality cannot be allowed to become reality. We want to see government take greater steps to enforce pay equality by monitoring organisations more closely and naming and shaming those who fail to pay male and female staff fairly.
“It is not just government that needs to act. Competitive businesses need to attract diverse workforces and appeal to the most talented employees. To do this, managers and employers need to recruit from a wide talent pool but they cannot expect to attract the UK’s best female talent if they continue to undervalue it.”
For more articles on equal pay