The latest analysis from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) demonstrates that the current gender pay gap is 14.9%, resulting in women working an average of 54 days per year for free.
The TUC also observed that women working in finance and insurance experience a 31.2% pay gap – the equivalent of 114 days of unpaid work. and women in female-dominated fields (such as education and healthcare) receive (on average) less pay per hour than men. This is likely to be because they may be in part-time and/or less senior roles due to family responsibilities, as demonstrated by the TUC’s analysis that the pay gap widens once a woman gives birth.
Discussing the issue, the TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said “Working women deserve equal pay. But at current rates of progress, it will take more than 20 years to close the gender pay gap”.