Over the last thirty years workplace equality has certainly risen up the agenda in UK businesses, large and small. Practical anti-discrimination policies have done some good in closing the gaps between various demographics in the workplace. But there is still a glaring chasm in terms that no one has yet managed to bridge – the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has demonstrated just how deep the gender pay divide goes with its Gender Salary Survey for 2012.
Analysing salary and labour turnover data for 38,843 executives, the CMI has revealed that the average gender pay gap for individuals at management level now stands at £10,060. Just to put this into perspective, when stretched out over an every 35-year career, this already significant gulf becomes a canyon-sized £423,390 – meaning that a female exec’s total lifetime earnings are scarcely more than two-thirds than those of her male counterparts. This is further exacerbated by the fact that female execs receive bonus payments that are less than half of their male colleagues – the female average of £3,726 falling far short of the male at £7,496.
This doesn’t necessarily apply across the entire spectrum. For example, at junior levels, female executives actually average a marginally higher wage than men of the same level, taking home an additional £363 a year. But unfortunately this is massively outweighed by incongruities at the other end, where male execs take home an average of £14,689 more. An additional problem is the underrepresentation of women at the highest end of business. Despite the fact that women make up the majority of executives, representing 57% of management overall, only two-fifths hold management roles and a meagre 24% occupy chief exec positions.
Even though there has been a huge amount of time invested in addressing gender inequality in the workplace, the gender pay gap isn’t showing many signs of closing just yet. The Gender Salary Survey for 2012 has highlighted just how much work we have left to do before workplace inequality is relegated to the history books. 
