Barclays’s gender pay gap sees women earning 43.5 per cent less than men
Barclays has revealed that women on average earn nearly half of what men do at the bank’s international division, in figures published today.
The bank said its median gender pay gap, reflecting the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly pay of men and women, was 43.5 per cent.
Its mean gender pay gap, reflecting the difference between the average hourly pay of men and women, at Barclays International was higher, at 48 per cent.
At Barclays UK the median pay gap was 14.2 per cent and the mean was 26 per cent.
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Barclays said the gaps visible in each of its UK entities stemmed from the distribution of men and women between corporate grades across Barclays.
Its gaps are driven predominantly by two factors: the higher proportion of men in more senior roles, and the higher proportion of women in more junior roles.
Chief executive Jes Staley said:
Although female representation is growing at Barclays, we still have high proportions of women in more junior, lower paid roles and high proportions of men in senior, highly paid roles.
There has been improvement across financial services but progress has been slow within the industry, so we support the objectives and intent of the UK government in introducing gender pay gap reporting to drive equality in the workplace and in society more widely.
He said Barclays’ initiatives include senior leadership gender diversity targets, creating new career opportunities, ensuring there is no bias in talent management and leadership processes, as well as “progressive policies”.
The group said today it swung to a £1.9bn loss for 2017, though shares rose after the bank said it will restore its full dividend in 2018.
Financial services firms’ gender pay gaps have been trickling in, with just under 40 listed on the government’s latest gender pay gap compilation. Over 1,000 firms overall that have to report the data have done so ahead of an April deadline, out of around 9,000 that are expected to need to.
The government requires any company with more than 250 employees to publish its mean and median gender pay gaps, along with bonus information.
Nicky Morgan MP, chair of the Treasury Committee, said today: “On average, women at Barclays International are paid half as much as men. For this to be the case in 2018 is shocking.
“Barclays has signed up to the Women in Finance Charter, which commits signatories to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector. One way of reducing the gender pay gap is to increase the proportion of women in more senior roles, so it appears that Barclays is on the right track.
“As part of our Women in Finance inquiry, we will keep a close eye on organisations as they report their gender pay gap before the April 2018 deadline.”
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