Women in retail are paid 15% less than male counterparts

Figures released by the Chartered Management Institute and XpertHR have revealed that men in the retail and wholesale sector are paid an average of £4,523 more a year than women.

The research on salary data of more than 60,000 UK employees found that male managers are 40% more likely than female managers to be promoted into higher roles, with 14% of men in management roles promoted into higher positions over the last year compared to 10% of women.

The difference in promotion rates is one of the main causes of the gender pay gap, which this year came in at 23.1% compared to 22.8% in 2015.

The average full-time equivalent salary for male managers now stands at £38,817, £8,964 more than the average salary of female managers. The discrepancy is even higher for directors and chief executive officers, with men on an average basic salary of £131,673 earning £16,513 more than women at the same level.

CMI chief executive, Ann Francke, says that the imminent pay reporting regulations will focus employers on closing the gender pay gap in their organisations:

“Promoting men ahead of women is keeping us all back. Diversity delivers better financial results, better culture and better decision making. Even before the new regulations kick in, employers need to get on board with reporting on their recruitment and promotion policies and how much they pay their men and women. Transparency and targets are what we need to deal with stubborn problems like the gender pay gap.”

Executive level

It was also found that there are fewer women in executive positions than men. Athough women comprise 73% of the workforce in entry level roles, female representation drops to 42% at the level of senior management and just 32% of director-level posts are held by women.

Last November the Government revealed plans for new legislation to tackle the gender pay gap, including making it compulsory for large companies to report on the pay gap between their male and female staff. The regulations are due to come into effect in April 2017.