The pay gap: now it’s wider than ever

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Ever since the Equal Pay Act came into force 32 years ago, people have said that the gap in pay between men and women would simply disappear as more women moved up the career ladder. But not only has progress been painfully slow - now it seems to have gone into reverse. A major survey by the Chartered Management Institute shows that the pay gap in management jobs has widened, for the first time in 11 years, to 12.2%. And in some sectors it’s far worse: in the food and drink industry, male managers earn 46% more than their female counterparts. Yet the survey also shows that women today are getting promoted faster than men. So why don’t they get paid the same?

No doubt some discrimination is involved, but it’s partly elf-inflicted. Study after study shows that men care more about money and negotiate harder for pay rises. When I first started managing staff, I was amazed by how naturally some men would provide a running commentary on their achievements, while the women simply assumed their untrumpeted hard work would be rewarded. Of course, it wasn’t. Women need to stop being so sheepish about money. They must grit their teeth and face the uncomfortable fact that what they don’t ask for they may not get.

But perhaps there’s a simpler explanation?

Many women are happy to be paid less in order to work less and thus spend time with their families. Well, not ‘happy’ necessarily, but ‘able to live with what is an essential compromise’. They aren’t wet or stupid or in need of a feminist kick up the backside. What it means is that men are often unwilling to compromise an iota on the work/family front in the way that women do almost without thinking.

The problem here is older than the Equal Pay Act: it’s to do with women being valued enough to successfully combine work life with home life.