Bonus Britain: Just for men
Women working in City earn 80 per cent less in bonuses than men, report finds
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Women working in the City earn 80 per cent less in bonuses than men, a major review has found.
A survey of 50 leading finance companies, employing one fifth of workers in the sector, found women earn £2,875 in average annual bonuses compared to £14,554 for men.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which carried out the research, said the annual basic pay gap in the sector was now 39 per cent, rising to 49 per cent when performance-related pay, bonuses and overtime were taken into account.
In 86 per cent of cases where women had started work in the sector in the last two and a half years they had lower performance-related pay than their male colleagues.
Trevor Phillips, chair of the commission, said the "shocking disparity of rewards" had to be rectified.
"For business to thrive in the new economy it simply can't afford to recruit and reward in the way it has done in the past," he said.
Equality minister Harriet Harman, who previously blamed the recession on men, said: "We cannot tackle discrimination if it is hidden which is why I asked the commission to produce this report.
"Equality is vital, not only for individuals, but for the economy and society as a whole."
Ms Harman, who is also minister for women, added: "Despite many actions taken by the government since 1997, inequality and discrimination still exist, which is why we are introducing tough new measures in our equality bill including gender pay reporting and proposals to ban secrecy clauses which are particularly prevalent in financial services."