A new study by HR and payroll software provider Ciphr has found that there are striking differences in pay between men and women for occupations dominated by women.
According to the analysis, which is based on data from the Office for National Statistics, 70 percent of jobs with a female majority – in which over 60 percent are women – have gender-pay gaps that favor men.
In 2024, 3 percent of these jobs will report no pay gap between men and women, while the other 27 percent will show a gender-biased pay gap. The disparity in pay is extreme for many occupations. Office managers, solicitors and marketing and commercial managers are among the jobs that have large numbers of employees and pay gaps greater than 10 percent. These roles are held jointly by 380,700 men and 206,800 women, with pay differences ranging between 13,4 percent and 18,4 percent in favor of male employees.
In 2024, the gender pay gap will be present in three quarters of UK occupations. This trend is present in both gender-balanced and male-dominated professions.
Gender Pay Gaps for Female-Dominated Professionals
Care managers, educators, and health care professionals are some of the occupations that have significant gender pay gaps. Residential, day and domiciliary caregivers face a pay gap of 14.8%, while educational professionals are faced with a disparity of 14.4%. Even in office administration roles, where 78 per cent of employees are women, there is a pay gap of 4.7 percent.
The study revealed that there were also gaps in other areas, such as marketing (13,6%), legal professions (13,4%), and public relations (10,7%). The gender pay gap for nurse practitioners remains at 6.9 percent despite this profession being dominated by women.
Claire Williams, Chief People and Operations Officer at Ciphr says: “The UK’s stubbornly large, double-digit gender pay gap (13.1%) reflects systemic problems that cannot be overlooked. It is not only about fairness, but also about equity, engagement and trust at work. “Employers must do more to identify and eliminate the root causes of disparities in recruitment, career advancement and salary review processes.”
Public Perception Gaps
Even though some of the hourly wage differences between men and women may seem small at first, they can have a negative impact on women’s retirement savings and lifetime earnings.
A recent survey showed that only 8 percent (of UK employees) believe there is a pay gap between men and women in their workplace. It may be due in part to British workers’ reluctance to talk about their salaries. A recent NatWest poll revealed that over a fifth (21%) of Brits don’t tell anyone how much they make. The younger generations were more open to discussing their income.
Williams said, “Even organizations that have not yet reached the reporting threshold for their gender pay gaps should still conduct annual DEIB and gender pay gap reports.” It allows them to gain a deeper understanding of the gaps, and where to concentrate their efforts in order to close them. Employers can close the gender gap by taking concrete and measurable steps.
