By Jaimie Kaffash
19 August 2010
The gender gap is closing in the public sector far quicker than in the private sector but the government's spending cuts could slow this down, according to the author of a report out today.
The CharteredManagement Institute's 2010 National management salary survey showed that, overall, women’s pay increased by 2.8% over the past 12 months compared with 2.3% for men. But in the public sector, women’s pay is increasing by four times the amount of men’s.
The gender pay gap between managers in the public sector is currently £6,837, compared with around £10,00 nationally. However, the figure is £1,446 for junior executives – which is higher than the national average of £1,065.
The institute has calculated that, if trends stay the same, the pay gap in the public
sector will be closed in ten years, compared with 57 years in the private
sector.
The CMI’s head of policy, Petra Wilton, told Public Finance: ‘It is a positive story in the public sector and at the current rate organisations are far ahead of the other sectors to reach equal pay. There has been more progress in the sector, particularly in transparency, which will help. We are also seeing high levels of female resignations, meaning they are moving across departments, which will account for why females are catching up.’
‘But the public sector spending cuts will diminish the rate at which we achieve equality. It is likely that there will be pay freezes, which will affect how quickly we lessen the gap.’
She added that there is a greater number of females being made redundant – 4.5% compared with 3% of men.
Unison’s head of local government Heather Wakefield agreedthat spending cuts would widen the gender pay gap.
‘The ten years it will take to close the pay gap in the public sector is still ten years too long given that people have had 40 years already to close the gap,’ she told PF.
‘What is happening with cuts and employers working away from doing positive single status agreements in local government and the NHS being freed up for competition, we are likely to see a bigger gender gap in the public sector.’
A recent legal challenge from the FawcettSociety questioned whether the June Budget was unlawful as public sector job losses will hit women harder than men.
Heather Wakefield’s discusses the impact of spending cuts in this PFblog
