The salary gap: the reality

It has long been acknowledged that women tend to earn less than men, often for doing the same job. But have evolution, campaigning and changes in the law made it harder to get away with?

The pay gap

The gender pay gap is defined as the percentage difference in hourly earnings between men and women. Figures published by the Office of National Statistics, show that the gap for full-time workers is 18%, and the gap between part-time workers is 40%. Both figures are now at their lowest since the Equal Pay Act came into force in 1975. At that time, the gap between men and women's hourly average earnings in full-time employment was 30%.

The statistics make even more impact in pounds and pence. According to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), women who work full-time earn £412 on average per week, compared with £531 for men. The reasons for this differential can be explained by the fact that men typically earn more per hour than women and also that women in full-time employment typically work on average two hours less per week than their male counterparts. As you would expect, this impacts on annual earnings, too. In April 2003, women's full-time average annual earnings passed the £20,000 barrier for the first time ever, and in 2004 they stand at £21,730. Men's full-time average annual earnings were £30,131 in 2004.

Who, what and where

The older you are, the wider the gender pay gap generally becomes. This is partly because as women get older, they are more likely to have spent time out of the labour market due to responsibilities of caring for children or elderly dependants. This also reflects the gap in qualification levels between men and women. Even though younger women have closed the gender gap in education in recent years, the difference is still more significant between men and women over 40 years old.

We know that plumbers or builders are more likely to be men so it is not surprising that the largest pay gap of 27.5% is for skilled trades occupations. Next come managers and senior officials with a gap of 21.4% and finally process, plant and machine operatives at 18.3%. The smallest pay gap of all is in the highest paid sector, professional occupations, and is currently 3.5%.

Regionally, the pay gap varies from 11.3% in Scotland and 13.8% in Yorkshire and the Humber, to 16.9% in the South East and 17.4% in the East Midlands. Generally, the gender pay gap is higher where pay is higher. The Women in London's Economy report in 2005 reveals that on average women in the city earn 25% less than men, compared with 18% less across the UK. At the same time, a report from the London Business School revealed that 177,000 more women set up businesses in UK in the past year - closing the gap between the number of male and female entrepreneurs.

Why

'Forget about sex, politics and religion, pay is the new taboo. In Britain today, the whole business of pay is shrouded in mystery.' says Equal Opportunities Commission chairwoman Julie Mellor. 'Discrimination flourishes in this culture of secrecy when people cannot be sure they are rewarded fairly,' she adds.

A chronic lack of transparency over salary levels is to blame for perpetuating the gender pay gap according to the EOC. Its figures show that men earn on average £559 a month more than women before tax, according to the EOC. The group believes greater openness over pay would help bring women's pay into line with their male peers.

The EOC says that women on lower wages were more likely to be in the dark over the salary of their peers than higher earners and it continues to highlight the disparity between male and female pay. In one campaign last year 10,000 mock pay slips, showing the average £559 monthly deduction for being a woman, to commuters arriving for work in London, Glasgow and Manchester.

The future

Watch this space. The GMB trade union is calling for compulsory pay audits to make sure women are not being paid less than their male colleagues. Karen Constantine, the union's equal rights officer said: 'The veil of pay secrecy is one of the key factors in the continuing problem of unequal pay and it must be lifted so we can address this growing problem'. 'There has been a marked lack of enthusiasm by employers to do so voluntarily, so compulsion is the only way forward,' she added.

In 2004, the Prime Minister set up the Women and Work Commission to look at narrowing that pay gap. Reporting directly to the PM, the body is designed to help women get a fair deal in the workplace. It looks at how men and women's education and skills affect which jobs they can get as well as the 'glass ceiling' in career progression. It has also been asked to compare women's experience in the job market before and after having children.

What you can do

It is against the law to pay women less than a man for the same or similar work and women have the right to find out how much male colleagues are being paid for doing the same job. Under new employment laws introduced in April 2003, women can submit a questionnaire to their boss to try to establish whether they are being treated less favourably. Refusing to fill in a questionnaire can count against an employer at an Employment Tribunal, but employers are not obliged to answer them.