Gender pay gap: Working women earn 20% less than men

Full-time professional working women can expect to earn 22pc less than their male colleagues in exactly the same job, with an average pay packet £8,524 smaller.

Based on the average full-time working week of 37.4 hours, women are effectively not paid for one hour and 39 minutes of every day.

The average salary for a full-time professional woman is £30,612, compared with £39,136 for a male peer in the same job, according to an annual survey of 72,000 people conducted by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR.

CMI chief executive Ann Francke called the findings "unacceptable" and called for "a reinvigorated focus on business culture" to help unblock the talent pipeline.

The Government is currently consulting on new legislation, expected to come into effect next year, which will require companies with more than 250 employees to publish details of the gap between average salaries for men and women.

David Cameron said the move "will cast sunlight on the discrepancies and create the pressure we need for change, driving women’s wages up".

Deloitte revealed earlier this week that its female employees earn 17.8pc less than its male staff, although the gap between men and women in the same job narrows significantly to 1.5pc.

PwC's pay gap is 15.1pc across the company, or 2.5pc for workers in the same job grade and location.

However, the gender pay gap is narrowing, falling to a record low of 9.4pc for full-time workers in 2014, according to the Office for National Statistics. Women between the ages of 22 and 39 now earn more than men.

The CMI survey found that the discrepancy between average pay has shrunk by £545 in the past year.

At senior level, the difference in pay stretches to £14,943, with the average female director earning £123,756 compared to a man's £138,699. However, this means a senior woman earns 11pc less than her male colleagues, which is about half the average pay gap.

However, bonuses remain skewed in favour of senior male workers, who pocket an extra £4,898 each year, which is almost twice the average female bonus of £2,531.

While just 29pc of director-level positions are held by women, and the pay gap rockets above 35pc for women older than 46, female representation is increasing with the younger generations.

Women outnumber men in entry-level jobs and junior management roles, and the discrepancy between male and female pay narrows to a below-average 20pc for women between the ages of 36 and 45 and to just 6pc for women aged 26 to 35.

Ms Francke stressed the importance of encouraging these women to stay in the workforce and to address the pay gap at all stages of career progression.

"While some progress is being made, it's clear from our research that Lord Davies is right to target the executive pipeline. Having more women in senior executive roles will pave the way for others and ensure they are paid the same as their male colleagues at every stage of their careers.”

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