In the UK at least, the gender pay gap among managers has widened for the first time in 11 years. The Chartered Management Institute disclosed in early September that women, from trainees to chief executives, have failed to keep pace with the rise in male earnings. In a survey of more than 42,000 managers in every sector, it found women averaged £43,571 last year, while the men averaged £49,647. The gap had been shrinking, from 13.6% of earnings in 2003 to 11.8% in 2005, but last year it widened to 12.2% among managers of all grades – and at director level the gulf was even more pronounced, increasing from 20% to 23%.
However, the survey also found that more than a third of Britain’s managers are women and they are climbing up the corporate ladder faster than their male colleagues. The average female team leader is 37, five years younger than her male counterpart. The average female department head is 40, three years younger than her male equivalent. And the average female director is 44, four years younger than the boardroom males. Female managers are also more likely to be awarded a performance bonus – last year 63.4% of the women got a one-off payment, compared with 55.9% of men.
Unfortunately, it appears that more women are responding by quitting their jobs, in many cases to set up their own businesses outside the discriminatory world of paid employment. Last year 7.8% of female managers handed in resignations, compared with 6.4% of male colleagues. It was the highest female resignation rate since 2002.
Why are females short-changed on pay although their performance seems to exceed that of males? My best guess is that their good nature is abused by corporate mentality. Their success is partly a consequence of greater emotional intelligence – being good at working with others and finding compromise. This trait also makes it easy for bureaucracy to presume they won’t notice if they are not fairly compensated. Well, presumably they do notice and rather than create internal strife by playing politics to get their own salaries raised (which contributes to internal dysfunction and reduced productivity) they leave.
It is unfortunate that corporates are short-changing themselves by abusing their best talent, but it may be part of a natural evolution of the commercial landscape away from bigger corporates to more interdependent, smaller units with a better balance of female and male characteristics. A holonic evolution.
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