Talk point: how can we close the gender pay gap?

A new report released today, Futuretrack, has revealed that there is a distinct gender pay gap between male and female graduates.

The research mapped the early entry into the labour market of a number of young people who applied to higher education in 2006. The report revealed that male graduates earn £24,000 to £26,999 on average, while female graduates' earnings are much lower at between £21,000 and £23,999.

According to Futuretrack: "The private sector demonstrates a larger gender gap in annual earnings for these recent graduates than for those employed in either public or not-for-profit." Indeed, the banking finance and insurance industry has one of the biggest gender pay gaps alongside agriculture, mining and quarrying; the smallest salary gap is in the education sector.

Commenting on the results, Professor Peter Elias, co-investigator at the University of Warwick, said: "One of the more continuing and disturbing findings, which underlies all of the salary analyses, is the gender pay gap in graduate earnings that we found in a study 10 years ago has persisted and shows no sign of diminishing. Male graduates with similar qualifications, experience and in similar jobs earn more than females at the outset of their careers."

Nor is there a simple answer as to why this is occurring so early in young people's careers. Jane Artess, director of research at the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, says the real issue is that this phenomenon "seems to be unexplained". While subject choice could be a contributory factor – especially as some subjects such as science, medicine and dentistry confer a higher salary on graduates – it does not wholly explain the continued inequality. As Artess points out, in some of these areas women are well-represented.

A second report released today by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) demonstrates that the gender pay gap continues up the career ladder. The research shows that over the course of their lifetime, the average male executive will earn £423,390 more than a female counterpart with the same career path. Further analysis reveals that female directors earn an average basic salary of £127,257, compared to £141,946 for the average male director.

Nor is the picture any more hopeful when one considers bonuses. Of the employers surveyed in the report for the CMI, female executives received less than half the figure awarded to their male counterparts; the average bonus for men was £7,496 compared to just £3,726 for women. Inequality was even more prevalent with bonuses at director level; just 36% of female directors received a bonus compared to 50% of male directors, who were awarded on average £7,000 more than their female counterparts.

Commenting on the results, Ann Francke, chief executive of the CMI, said: "We need an immediate and collaborative approach to setting things straight. The government should demand more transparency from companies on pay, naming and shaming organisations that are perpetuating inequality and celebrating those that achieve gender equality in the executive suite and the executive pay packet."

But what do you think needs to be done to tackle the gender pay gap? What are the obstacles facing women and how can they be overcome? What lessons can we learn from the example of sectors where the pay gap is lower? The comments thread below is now open — feel free to leave your views and ideas on the subject.

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