Sadiq Khan calls for equal opportunity

Sadiq Khan published City Hall’s first ever gender pay audit as he called for London businesses to help close the gap between male and female workers.

The internal study revealed a pay gap of 4.6 per cent, with full-time women paid an average of £21.40 an hour while their male counterparts earned an average of £22.44.

Women make up more than half of all City Hall employees and two fifths of those earning £60,000 or more. But less than a third of staff earning more than £100,000 in March 2016, when Boris Johnson was still mayor, were female.

The new Mayor challenged the capital’s firms to follow his lead to break the glass ceiling that still limits the success of so many London women. The average gender pay gap for full-time London workers is 12 per cent, while overall it is 23 per cent.

He launched an action plan for full pay equality across the whole Greater London Authority empire - including Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police Service, which are now expected to produce their own gender audits.

At City Hall, plans to boost female representation at the most senior - and financially rewarding - levels include increasing the availability of part-time and flexible-working options and aiding career progression within those roles.

Mentoring, career-support programmes and sponsorship for qualifications are on offer, while managers are trained to ensure the recruitment process is as fair as possible and are piloting “no name” application forms.

Mr Khan, who has appointed women to several key jobs including transport, policing and culture, said: “I have vowed to be a proud feminist at City Hall, and I am determined to make the GLA a model employer that removes any barriers to women by adopting the highest possible standards for fair pay, good working conditions and gender equality.

“My mother sewed clothes for 50 pence a dress to bring in extra money for our family and now, as the dad of two teenage daughters, I want to do all I can to ensure women have the same opportunities as men in London so that their hard work and talent is fully and fairly recognised by employers.

“It is unacceptable that in London, one of the world’s greatest and most progressive cities, someone’s pay and career prospects can still be defined by their gender.

“I want City Hall to be a model employer, adopting the highest standards to support women in the workplace and I challenge both ourselves and others to take action to break the glass ceiling that still exists to limit their success.”

Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, welcomed the audit but warned the Mayor’s plans to address the pay gap would fall short unless more was done on childcare.

She said: “Londoners’ childcare is a third more expensive than anywhere in the UK and without taking the lack of affordable childcare into account these measures can’t be fully successful.

“Where’s the City Hall creche and childcare support for City Hall employees and where is the investment right across London, where women are more likely than anywhere in the country to be living in poverty and doing low-paid jobs?”

Ms Walker also called on the Mayor to use his multi-million pound commissioning powers to help create a culture change across all the capital’s businesses.

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