Hitting the glass ceiling: here’s how much less than men women in tech earn

The gender pay gap in the UK's tech scene ranks at the bottom of a list of global economies, according to new research from Hired

Hitting the glass ceiling: here’s how much less than men women in tech earn

The tech industry is at the bleeding edge of humanity’s innovative potential. Still, it seems like it’s falling behind when it comes to closing the gender pay gap. According to new data from Hired, the startup specialising in tech recruitment, female techies earn 9% less than their male counterparts – the equivalent of an annual difference of £5,000.

Having pulled and analysed data from more than 10,000 salary offers across approximately 3,000 candidates and 750 companies on Hired’s UK platform, the company revealed that Britain’s tech sector is at the bottom of a list of global tech hubs. For instance, the gap in Canada is 7%, whilst Australia and the US have a disparity of 5% and 8% respectively.

Additionally, Hired revealed that the gender pay gap seemingly widens the longer people work in the sector, with female engineers who’ve worked less than two years earning 7% less than their male colleagues. Comparatively, male techies with between two and six years of experience out-earn their female counterparts by 7%, with the gender pay gap increasing to a staggering 31% after six years.

Hired linked this to the difference between the scale of the pay cheques women and men ask for. In the beginning of their careers, men and women ask for ask for roughly the same salaries. However, as they accumulate six or more years of experience, women ask for 18% less money.

And it seems that startups and big companies seem better at fighting the gender pay gap than medium-sized companies with between 200 and 1,000 employees. While smaller and bigger companies’ gender pay gaps were both at the industry average of 9%, mid-sized businesses had an average gap of 17%.

Hired released the data in support of Equal Pay Day on Thursday – the date that marks how much extra time since the end of the financial year it’s taken women to earn the same amount as men. “Our hope is that by sharing data of this kind, we’ll bring attention to this issue, encourage companies to investigate their compensation policies and empower women to ask for their market worth,” the company’s report stated.

Given that it’s been 46 years since the Equal Pay Act made it illegal for companies to pay men and women different salaries for the same job, it’s depressing to see a prevalent gender pay gap in such a progressive sector almost a half a century later.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Johansson
Eric Johansson
RELATED ARTICLES





Share via
Copy link