Money Matters: The Gender Pay Gap Debate Continues

With the gender pay gap hovering around 18% according to recent research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, it seems that awareness of the discrepancy between pay for men and women has done little to reverse its effect. We take a look at the true impact of the gender pay gap.

Celebrity Pay Scales

It’s tough to feel sorry for celebrities earning a large wage with fame and fortune at their feet! However the numbers are still surprising – for example, tennis ace Andy Murray receives £253,639 per week whereas Venus Williams receives £28,297 per week.

If we move on to football Wayne Rooney takes home £306,850 per week in contrast to Stephanie Houghton, captain of Manchester City’s team who makes £1,247 a week. To put that in perspective, Wayne Rooney’s salary is 250x that of Stephanie Houghton’s.

Combat sports aren’t immune either as Ronda Rousey takes home £57,535 a week in comparison to Conor McGregor’s £139,611 a week.

There is some sense of a level playing field in athletics however – with both Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis-Hill taking home £466 a week. However Bolt’s sponsorships are reported to be around £24million in comparison to Ennis-Hill’s £5million.

It’s a stark contrast for men and women in the world of elite sport. Figures taken from HR Grapevine.

Closing the Gender Pay Gap

Interestingly, McKinsey has estimated that closing the pay gap could add £150billion to the economy. The gap is also closest between 20 – 30 year olds.

On 6th April 2017 employers will be required to publish information on their gender pay and bonus gaps. The information must be based on the preceding 12 month period and employers will have 12 months in which to publish the information.

Other ways as reported by the BBC of potentially closing the gender pay gap could be to enforce paternity leave, allowing mothers to return to work. Subsidising childcare too could allow more women to get back into work. Allowing babies into the office, letting parents work from home and giving women a pay rise were also mentioned.

There are ways in which to even the playing field when it comes to wages for men and women. It’s positive that gender pay gap reporting is coming into force soon and we’re eager to see what measure will be next to be implemented.