Proactive Investors - Banks are among the worst offenders in regard to men being paid more than women, according to new research, led by HSBC’s UK business which had a 51.5% gap in wages and a 77% gap in bonuses.
Currently, more than 80% of companies pay male employees more than women on average, with the gap now larger than in 2017 when organisations were first forced to begin reporting.
The gender pay gap is the difference between men's and women’s median pay expressed as a percentage of the average man’s salary.
The total average was 12.2% in the 12 months to 4 April, against 11.9% in 2017/18 and in line with last year.
In the finance sector, the gender pay gap was much higher than the national average, dropping only slightly year-on-year to 22.7% - the second highest industry behind education.
As well as HSBC (LON:HSBA), other poor performers in 2022 included Lloyds (LON:LLOY) (34.8%) and NatWest (LON:NWG) (31.6%).
HSBC claimed the difference “shows the extent to which women and staff of some ethnicities are under-represented in senior and higher-paid roles and over-represented in junior and lower-paid roles.
“The actions we are taking aim to improve representation across the whole organisation, this will be reflected in our disclosures and over time this will narrow our gender pay gap.”
Analysis from the Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) found that over the last three years UBS UK and Barclays’ corporate and investment bank had made the best progress - closing the gap by 510bps (5.1%) and 490bps respectively.
Denise Wilson, chief executive of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, added that the gap for companies across the UK would not close unless there was an increase in females in senior well-paying roles.
“There is no shortage of capable women willing to take on bigger roles. Removing bias from the selection process remains key to progress, along with more female-friendly workplace culture, equal parenting and affordable childcare,” Wilson concluded.