Women make up a smaller proportion of top earners in British financial and professional services than before the COVID-19 pandemic, research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) showed on Monday.
Women made up 19.4% of the top 1% of earners in the sector on average between the first quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2023, down from 19.7% in the three years up to the first quarter of 2020, the research showed.
“The lack of progression of women to the most senior roles in financial and professional services is a major factor contributing to the gender pay gap,” said Grace Lordan, an associate professor at the LSE.
“We are going backwards, but I am not surprised. For progress to be made, there needs to be a bigger shift towards recognizing that diversity is good for business.”
Some of Britain’s top financial firms pay women 28.8% less on average than male counterparts, according to salary data from 21 companies reviewed by Reuters last month.
However, the LSE research, based on the government’s quarterly , showed that women made up 28.3% of the top 10% of earners between the first quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2023, a rise of 2.5% from the three-year period up to the first quarter of 2020.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Susan Fenton)
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