Gender pay gap means female bosses are 'working for free'

Britain's gender pay gap means that female mangers are effectively working for free for almost two hours a day, a new study has revealed.

The Chartered Management Institute and pay analysts XpertHR surveyed 72,000 managers across the UK and found that women in managerial position earn on average 22 per cent less than their male colleagues.

The average pay for female managers is £30,612 – while a man in an equivalent job is paid £39,136.

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This means that women will effectively work unpaid for 1 hour and 40 minutes every day, equating to 57 days of unpaid labour a year.

The Chartered Management Institute

"Working for free two hours a day is unacceptable," said CMI chief executive Ann Francke. "Having more women in senior executive roles will pave the way for others and ensure they're paid the same as their male colleagues at every stage of their careers.”

The study also found that when it comes to bonuses, male managers receive almost twice as much as their female counterparts.

The pay gap also appears to widen as women get older, from 6 per cent for 26-35 year-olds to 35 per cent for women aged between 46 and 60.

"An entire generation has now worked its way through from school leaver to retirement since the first equal pay legislation came into effect in 1970, yet the gender pay gap persists," said Mark Crail from XpertHR.

Although progress has been made in recent years – in 2014 the overall gender gap was at its narrowest since records began – campaigners and businesses warn there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve true gender equality in the workplace.

Today's survey comes on the back of government plans to force large businesses to reveal salary differences between male and female employees in an effort to address the pay imbalance.

David Cameron has vowed to close the gender pay gap within a generation, but has faced fierce opposition from employers as well as criticism from campaigners that the measures do not go far enough.

However Francke welcomed the government's push for transparency. "Clearer employee data, improved recruitment and a reinvigorated focus on business culture will help unblock the talent pipeline and support more women to become senior managers and leaders," she said.