29.03.2024

The Bank of England’s 20%-plus gender pay gap is actually pretty good for the finance industry

The Bank of England published a report (pdf) about its gender pay gap today, and while some of the central bank’s stats are pretty depressing, the overall takeaway is (relatively) positive.

First, the bad news. Women at the bank earn 20-25% less than men, in terms of both salary and bonus:

The good news, such as it is, is that the Bank of England has a narrower gender gap than the UK’s financial industry as a whole, as tracked by the Office for National Statistics:

The bank noted that its gender pay gap is largely due to a dearth of females in senior management. Bank governor Mark Carney said in a statement that the central bank has introduced diversity targets, and aims to have 35% female representation in senior roles by 2020, up from 30% today. In 2014, women held only 20% of top jobs at the bank.

The British government has asked for companies to report their gender pay gap data to get a better picture of the problem, and help determine how it can be addressed. In the finance and industry, only six companies have so far volunteered their numbers (the Bank of England’s gap is narrower than five of them). However, the UK government will force (paywall) all companies in Britain with 250 staff or more to report what they pay male and female employees, by April next year.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *