Truth about finance sector gender pay gap revealed

Despite making up almost half the workforce, women in the finance sector are paid an average of 40 per cent less than men, it has been revealed.

According to the Government Equalities Office, this is the highest gender pay gap for any industry as the national average is 22.6 per cent.

As a result, the government is promising to clamp down on both unfair pay and the discrimination of women in the financial services industry, Personnel Today reports.

Harriet Harman, minister for women and equality, recently told a trade union equality conference: Half the people who are working in the financial service sector are women. But nearly all of the bosses are men.

We need a real overhaul of the pay and prospects of women in the city, she added.

A spokesperson for ClickAJob points out that though discrimination can be legislated against, it is almost impossible to stamp out.

If they tread carefully, biased recruiters can give the illusion of being impartial yet still get away with excluding all kinds of people, he warns.

All it takes is a polite and apparently sympathetic clause in a rejection letter - that there were 'other candidates whose qualifications more closely matched the job specification,' he says.

Job applicants should be on their guard that old prejudices still apply and be prepared to deal with them.

Recently, Management-Issues reported on research conducted by academics from Newark's Rutger University psychology department, which claimed that women are often disadvantaged during job interviews.