20.03.18
TfL to introduce gender equality measures after 20% pay gap revealed
Transport for London (TfL) will introduce new measures to “remove barriers” to women in top roles, after figures released this week showed that men were paid a staggering 20% more on average.
The transport body suffers from one of largest gender pay gaps in the capital, more than 15 percentage points higher than the Greater London Authority, the city’s largest local government body, with men paid on average £27.56 an hour compared to £22.46 for women.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was “determined” to deal with the situation – which he believes has “existed unchallenged and hidden away for too long” – by ensuring that the causes of this disparity are discovered and removed.
However, there has been relatively little reduction on average between this year’s figures and those for 2016, when Khan first began to publish the statistics.
Sam Smethers, CEO of gender equality charity The Fawcett Society, claimed it was unsurprising that an organisation like TfL would have such a large difference in pay, mainly because the higher, more well-paid roles are filled predominately by men.
“We know that they have highly segregated workforces with men dominating higher paid roles,” he explained. “What matters now is the action they will commit to taking to close the gap.”
TfL says it will be introducing measures to deal with the situation, including specific performance targets aimed at creating an annual decrease in the pay gap, anonymous job applications, and a development programme for groups which are under-represented in senior roles.
The transport industry has historically suffered from a pay discrepancy between men and women, with the government’s performance figures for the last year showing that the Department for Transport had the widest gender gap of every Whitehall department.
Khan has said that the alarming difference in pay across many of London’s public-sector bodies makes it “abundantly clear” that more needs to be done to put women in higher paid roles.
“I am determined to do everything in my power to address the gender pay gap that has existed both unchallenged and hidden away for far too long,” he added.
“While the data I have published today makes for painful reading for all at City Hall and the majority of the GLA group, it’s only by taking these steps and highlighting that there is a problem, that we will properly address the inequalities in our society.”
In general, London has a slightly lower pay gap than the rest of the country, standing at 16% compared to the national average of 18%.
Top image: TfL
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