Boux Avenue, Ryanair, J.P. Morgan and Macquarie are among the companies with the widest gender pay gaps
The deadline for UK companies with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap data closed yesterday, with 10,035 companies having published their reports by the deadline.
The government announced in January last year that from this April all employers with more than 250 staff would have to publish annual figures relating to the gender pay gap, including mean and median averages for hourly pay and bonuses as well as the proportion of men and women in each pay bracket.
Read more: Tinder is carrying out a company-wide review to close the gender pay gap
These are some of the companies in the UK with the widest gender pay gaps
Lingerie retailer Boux Avenue had a mean gender pay gap of 75.4 per cent. The retailer, which is owned by Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis, said that the nature of its business meant that it employed far more women then men.
“Due to the intimate nature of our products we predominantly attract female colleagues to our stores and head office which has a direct impact on our statistics,” the report said.
According to its report it employed less than one per cent men in its lower, lower middle or upper middle quartiles, with nine per cent men in its upper quartile. Its chief executive, Kypros Kyprianou, is a man.
You know we have a gender pay gap issue when Boux Avenue a women’s lingerie brand has a pay gap of 75.7% ! #GenderPayGap
— Heroine In Heels (@LauraJHyatt) April 5, 2018
Millwall Holdings, parent company of Millwall Football Club, had a mean gender pay gap of 76 per cent and a median pay gap of 80 per cent.
Only three per cent of women received a bonus compared to 29 per cent of men and women’s median and mean bonus pay was 99 per cent lower than men’s.
Irish airline Ryanair clocked a mean gender pay gap of 67 per cent, meaning women earned 33p for every £1 men earned, while its median gender pay gap was 71.8 per cent.
The statistics for the budget airliner showed that just three per cent of its upper pay quartile were women, compared to 57 per cent of its lower pay quartile and 76 per cent of its lower middle pay quartile.
In its report Ryanair said that it was an “equal pay employer” but said its gender pay gap is affected by the “relatively low numbers of female pilots in the aviation industry”.
Ryanair also said that “our management and administration are based largely in Ireland, so the vast majority of our UK based colleagues are pilots or cabin crew.”
Weird framing in #R4Today news report really highlighting how little we grasp about the causes of gender pay gaps: “Ryanair reports one of the largest pay gaps… but points out that pilots tend to be men while lower paid cabin staff are women”.
Yes this is… exactly the point?
— Eve Livingston (@eve_rebecca) April 4, 2018
In the financial services sector J.P. Morgan had a particularly stark gender pay gap with women’s mean hourly rate 44 per cent lower than men’s and only 23 per cent of women in the upper pay bracket. The mean bonus gap was a massive 67 per cent.
J.P. Morgan said: “We know there is more work to be done to increase the number of women in senior positions.
“While we recognise that meaningful change will take time, we are committed to continuing our efforts to engage and empower women.”
Read more: City banks report gender pay gaps
Australian bank Macquarie had a 56.3 per cent mean gender pay gap in its corporate business with women’s median pay 60.1 per cent lower than men’s.
Just 6.2 per cent of the bank’s upper pay quartile were women and women’s mean bonus pay was 83.4 per cent lower than men’s.
Macquarie chief executive for Europe Middle East and Africa David Fass said: “We are committed to having a more diverse workforce at all levels, including more women in senior roles.
“We are making progress but there is more to do.”
Virgin Money also had a wide gender pay gaps with women’s mean hourly rate 32.5 per cent lower then men’s and their median hourly rate 38.4 per lower.
Women make up 73 per cent of the lowest paid quartile and 64 per cent of the lower middle quartile compared to 35 per cent of the highest paid quartile.
In its report Virgin Money chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia wrote: “Our aim is to achieve a 50:50 gender balance by 2020 (within a 10% tolerance) throughout the business. We are confident that as we progress towards a 50:50 balance, our gender pay gap will reduce.”
In the legal sector US law firm Kirkland & Ellis, the richest in the world, had a mean gender pay gap of 33.2 per cent and a median gender pay gap of 68.2 per cent, meaning that women earn 32p for every £1 men earn.
Bonus pay was also massively gendered with women’s mean bonus pay 62.3 per cent lower than men’s and median bonus pay 74.3 per cent lower.
In its report the firm blamed the pay gap on the fact that all of its secretaries – who are paid significantly less than its lawyers – are women.
It added: “We also recognise that, in part, gender pay gaps result from fewer female lawyers at the more senior levels, and we are working hard to address this.”
Read more: First magic circle firm includes partner pay in gender pay gap report
The Telegraph Media Group had the widest pay gap of any of the major newspapers with women’s mean hourly pay 35 per cent lower than men’s and a mean bonus gap of 46.2 per cent.
Chief executive Nick Hugh wrote: “Our gender pay report shows an unacceptable gap between the average pay for men compared with women. The main reason for this has been a lack of female representation at the most senior levels, something which we have already started to address.”