London Is The Worst UK City For Gender Pay Equality

Despite up to 100,000 people taking part in London’s Women’s March in 2017, and campaigners tirelessly working throughout the UK for gender equality and parity, Londoners still have a long way to go to break the glass ceiling.

The UK’s national average gender pay gap is 14%, but shockingly London is well behind with an average gap of 20%. That means women earn a measly 80p to every £1 men earn.

E-learning company, Me Learning, explored this data further to highlight where London might look for inspiration to reduce the gender pay gap.

Surprisingly, the UK’s smaller cities and towns do better than their regional capitals, with the greatest gap in the North East. Manchester’s gender pay gap is 12.8% but small non-metropolitan district in Lancashire, Rossendale, has a gap of -16.8%, so women on average earn 16.8% more than men.

Andrew Bazeley, Fawcett Society Policy and Insight Manager, said:

“The gender pay gap is a cause and consequence of the way we undervalue women’s work in our society, with multiple causes such as inflexible working patterns within the workplace, segregation of people into higher-paid ‘boy jobs’ and lower paid ‘girl jobs’, and a failure to adequately promote women.”

“There isn’t one consistent reason why the gender pay gap is lower or negative in some of these areas, which are pretty diverse. The shape of the local labour market is probably important, such as the proportion of public sector jobs which tend to pay women better; the industries which are key local employers; and the availability of the transport networks and childcare that can make full-time employment more feasible for women. It’s important to remember too that some rural areas may have a lower gender pay gap, but also have fewer women in work in the first place than in cities.

“What’s clear though is that most of our major cities – and London in particular – have a long way to go. Businesses, and local and national government, need to work together to close the gap.”

The Government’s requirement for large businesses to publish their gender pay reports is a step in the right direction, however equality and parity remains a deep cultural issue that can only improve with education and development.

Online training provider, Me Learning, who analysed the data said: “The data we’ve found speaks for itself – there’s still a long way to go in terms of the gender pay gap for metropolitan cities where there are a large number of male-dominated industries. We believe this change starts with learning and development in these organisations, and it’s only then that we can start to see that gap narrowing.”