Women Earn 19.6 Percent Less Than Men In IT Sector

Women earn 19.6 percent less than men in the information and communications sector, according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

In the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings report published by the ONS, it found that in the gender pay gap in what is effectively the IT industry was 1.5 percentage points higher than the national average of 18.1 percent.

While the gender pay gap is now at its lowest since the survey began in 1997, the fact that the IT industry has a higher disparity in pay than the average is a potentially damming for many of the initiatives in the sector that attempt to get more women into the industry.

Tech gender pay gap

The government is look to address this situation by requiring all employers of more than 250 people to publish their gender pay and gender bonus gaps, with the aim to shine a light on barriers that could be preventing women from reaching the higher echelons of the pay scale enjoyed by their male counterparts.

Minister for Women and Equalities, Justine Greening, noted she is optimistic about the narrowing gender pay gaps but did state there is more work to be done before the pay gap is closed completely.

“It is fantastic to see we now have the lowest gender pay gap on record. No woman should be held back just because of her gender,” she said.

“The changes we’ve made so that men and women can share their parental leave, the support we’re giving to get more women into the top jobs at our biggest companies and our drive to get more girls taking STEM subjects at school are all helping to reduce this gap.

“We’ve achieved amazing things but there’s more to do – that’s why we are pushing ahead with plans to require businesses to publish their gender pay and gender bonus gap for the first time ever from April next year.”

Having a more diverse workforce in gender and race has been touted as a means to help make businesses more successful due being able to have an insight into delivering products and services to wider audiences. It is estimated that by closing the gender pay gap, £150 billion could be added onto the UK’s annual GDP by 2025.

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