Mary Macleod

Men and women should be paid the same – end of story

The gender pay gap should not exist. But it does, as we were reminded today by the Chartered Management Institute report on corporate pay. It is simply unacceptable for a man to get paid more than a woman for doing the same job. The government has taken steps to support equal pay by making pay secrecy clauses illegal and by giving tribunals the power to force employers that break equal pay laws to carry out equal pay audits. The government can do more to highlight the need for gender equality; but, ultimately, businesses decide their workers’ pay.

CEOs, HR executives and remuneration committees must root out unfair pay practices because there is no excuse for sustaining them in this day and age. This is part of the larger challenge we face to increase the role of women at senior levels in business (it is scarcely credible that there is only one female chairman and just 3 female CEOs in the entire FTSE 100.)

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