UK retailers slow to close gender pay gap

When gender pay gap reporting became mandatory in 2017 for large UK companies it was heralded as a giant leap forward for equality. But in 2023, men are still being paid more in 79.5 percent of companies, compared to 77.2 percent in 2017, according to an analysis by the Financial Times. The gap is also widening, with men earning an hourly wage that is 12.2 percent more than women, versus 11.9 percent in 2017.

Included in the list of companies are some of the UK’s biggest retailers, who are lagging to equalise their businesses. Out of the UK’s top 50 retailers Next is the fashion company with the largest pay gap at 8.1 percent. Marks & Spencer and Primark reported had a gap of 6.5 percent and 1.1 percent.

Thus far, it appears transparency to report gender pay has not done enough to curb it. Raconteur, a digital news outlet, says the task of putting more women into the best-paid leadership positions clearly remains a challenge.

Transparency is not enough to curb the pay gap

“Organisations think and say they’re doing the right thing to advance gender equality in the workplace — but when it comes to taking action on the gender pay gap, evidence suggests they are failing to deliver,” Ann Francke, chief executive at Chartered Management Institute, told the FT.

A report published by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in 2020, showed the gender pay gap in the fashion industry was approximately 20 percent, which was higher than the national average. This meant that women in fashion earn about 80 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.

In April 2022 ASOS was named as one of the companies with the highest gender pay gaps in Britain, according to the Times, with a median gap of 44.8 percent compared to 41 percent in 2021. In 2022 this went up to 45.5 percent. ASOS, which employs over 3,000 employees, said its gender pay gap is driven by the larger proportion of men than women in higher paying senior roles, particularly in its Technology team, where salaries tend to be higher than in other parts of the business.

ASOS said more women are employed in Commercial and Customer Care teams, where salaries are lower. These three sectors make up 67 percent of its total workforce.

As a reflection on the fashion sector as a whole, fashion's pay gap "partly reflects a larger percentage of women working in roles such as customer care, which are mostly entry-level" compared to more men in technology and leadership roles.

The gender pay gap in the EU stands at 12.7 percent in 2021 and has only changed minimally over the last decade. It means that women earn 13 percent on average less per hour than men.

Article source: FT "Nearly 80 percent of UK employers pay men more than women"; Raconteur; European Commission.