Progression, pay and policy: the key to tackling gender inequalities in the workplace

Women and other marginalised genders face a persistent pay and power gap and are more likely to experience insecure work or gender-based harassment or discrimination.

Photograph: iStock/Layla Bird

And this isn’t just bad for society, it’s also bad for business. Greater gender equity and inclusion is vital to business success, leading to more engaged and productive employees, better products, happier customers and higher financial returns. That’s why gender equality in the workplace should be a priority in every organisation. To help drive progress on gender equality at work, BITC runs The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality, an annual list of employers taking action to create workplaces where everyone, regardless of their gender, can thrive.¹

BITC gathers best practice and insights about what applicants are doing to champion gender equality in their workplaces. While insights show that businesses are successful in embedding objectives and targets for gender equality into their organisational strategy, businesses still have a long way to go before gender equality becomes the norm at work. To tackle the barriers women and marginalised genders face in the workplace, employers should focus on three key areas: progression, pay and policy.

Supporting the progression of women and other marginalised genders

Women and other marginalised genders are underrepresented in senior roles, with only one in 10 FTSE 100 companies led by women, while six in 10 wider leadership positions are held by men.² To ensure that women and other marginalised genders are represented at all levels, from entry level to ExCo, employers must ensure that they are given the opportunities they need to learn and develop within an inclusive organisational culture where everyone’s contributions are valued and recognised.

Monitoring performance and promotion data is critical to ensure that targets are being met and senior leaders are held accountable, so that no one is left behind. Women and other marginalised genders are twice as likely as men to find themselves in insecure work, because the rigid, often inflexible requirements of formal, more secure work don’t fit with their wider responsibilities.³ Because of this, women are more likely to take on caring responsibilities, for both children and adults. This can see women stuck on the ‘sticky floor’, kept in lower-paid and lower-valued roles.

It’s brilliant to see that between 2023 and 2024, the percentage of The Times Top 50 applicants that track the promotion rates of those who have taken parental leave increased by five per cent. However, while this shows a step in the right direction, this is still only monitored by four in 10 applicants.⁴

By offering networking opportunities and education on different career paths, providing opportunities for development in the form of sponsorship and mentoring schemes, and ensuring that the voices of women and other marginalised genders are listened to and taken into account, employers can help these groups to progress into higher-valued, higher-paid roles.

Closing the gender pay gap

Although the UK’s gender pay gap is decreasing over time, it’s saddening to see that it still sits at 14.3 per cent,⁵ and is wider for certain intersectional groups. While gender pay gap reporting is mandatory for organisations with 250 or more employees, there is still a lot to be done to close the gap once and for all. It’s not enough to simply collect and publish the data; businesses need to identify any gaps or trends that exist and set ambitious but achievable targets as part of an action plan to address these.

Charlotte Woodworth is gender equality director at Business in the Community. Photograph: Business in the Community

And it’s not just gender data that should be monitored; it is vital to take an intersectional, inclusive approach. The largest disparities in pay can be found when an intersectional lens is applied to the employee data. For example, the gender pay gap for those over 40 is twice as large as that for those under 40.⁶ In addition, Bangladeshi and Pakistani women face a pay gap of up to 28.4 per cent and 25.9 per cent, respectively, compared with White British men, and 14.7 per cent and 11.8 per cent, respectively, compared with White British women.⁷

When it comes to closing the gap, transparency and accountability are key. Fostering a culture of openness around pay and reward is crucial if employers want to show their commitment and establish themselves as a leading organisation when it comes to championing gender equality. Two-thirds of The Times Top 50 applicants in 2024 have transparent unified pay bandings or systems in place, yet only two in 10 publish salaries both internally and externally on all job descriptions.⁸ To ensure that everyone is paid fairly, employers must understand that transparency about how pay is managed, who falls into which pay band, and how the organisation is performing against their targets is the best way to hold themselves accountable.

Creating a working world that recognises wider life

Flexible working policies are key to building a more inclusive workplace, helping to improve employee wellbeing, engagement and productivity. But promoting these policies externally and openly discussing them at the recruitment stage is an excellent way to attract a wider, more diverse talent pool and to retain vital talent. While nine out of 10 The Times Top 50 applicants proactively discuss their flexible working options at the recruitment stage, only half publish their flexible working policies externally, meaning half of applicants may be missing out on vital talent who need the assurance of flexibility to even consider applying for a role.⁹

But policies such as flexible working and parental and carer’s leave need to work for men too. Increasing the parental leave allowance for fathers could result in a cost saving of around £260 million a year for employers,¹º so it’s encouraging to see a 16 per cent increase between 2023 and 2024 in the number of The Times Top 50 applicants that are considering introducing equal or enhanced parental leave policies in the next two years, with half of applicants considering this in 2024.¹¹ Implementing policies such as enhanced and equal parental leave can help employers encourage and support fathers to take on more childcare responsibilities, making caring the norm, rather than the exception.

Unequal parental leave drives 70 per cent of the gender pay gap, which is why it’s never been more important to design, create and implement family friendly policies that work for everyone.¹² And transparency around these policies is also essential to attract and retain the right talent. Only half of The Times Top 50 applicants publish their parental leave policies externally, which means many could be missing out on both vital talent and economic benefits for their organisations.¹³

Gender equality is everyone’s business

While there is still a way to go, it is evident that employers are taking steps in the right direction to address gender inequalities in their workplaces, despite challenging economic circumstances. But this work can’t be done by any one business alone; it is vital that every organisation plays its part as we strive for true workplace gender equality.

Charlotte Woodworth is gender equality director at Business in the Community.

For more information see:

bitc.org.uk/gender

References

1. BITC: The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality, tinyurl.com/bdenhf9e
2. FTSE Women Leaders: FTSE Women Leaders Review February 2024 Report, tinyurl.com/34j545zw

3. Lancaster University: The UK Insecure Work Index 2024, tinyurl.com/2657nr89
4. BITC: The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality Insights 2024, tinyurl.com/55xemtfc
5. Office for National Statistics: Gender pay gap in the UK, tinyurl.com/nhewex3s
6. Office for National Statistics: Gender pay gap in the UK, tinyurl.com/nhewex3s
7. Fawcett Society: Double Trouble: The Ethnicity Gender Pay Gap, tinyurl.com/4vwyjc7x
8. BITC: The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality Insights 2024, tinyurl.com/55xemtfc
9. BITC: The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality Insights 2024, tinyurl.com/55xemtfc
10. PwC: WIW 2023: Closing the Gender Pay Gap for good: A focus on the motherhood penalty, tinyurl.com/4du2cvh9
11. BITC: The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality Insights 2024, tinyurl.com/55xemtfc
12. Bain & Company: Equal at Work, Equal at Home, tinyurl.com/yyp6mm3e
13. BITC: The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality Insights 2024, tinyurl.com/55xemtfc