Men working full-time are twice as likely to earn over £50,000 a year as full-time women, according to an analysis by the TUC to mark Equal Pay Day.

Men working full-time are twice as likely to earn over £50,000 a year as full-time women, according to an analysis by the TUC to mark Equal Pay Day.

Just one in 15 women working full-time is earning over £50,000 a year, according to the study, compared to one in seven men.

Equal Pay Day falls on the day that women working full-time stop earning each year compared to men. On average women working full-time are paid 15.7 per cent less per year than men – or £5,200.

But according to the TUC, in certain professions the gender pay gap is much wider.

Even in professions where women are well-represented they still earn far less on average than men. Women working full-time as senior education professionals earn over £13,000 (22.3 per cent) a year less than their male peers, despite dominating the profession.

Meanwhile full-time female solicitors earn over £10,000 (20.2 per cent) a year less on average than their male counterparts.

And seven in 10 women earn below the UK average salary of £32,300, compared to six in 10 men. One in four women working full-time also earns less than the living wage, compared to one in six men.

The gender pay gap is bigger still for women working part-time, who earn 34 per cent less per hour on average than men working full-time.

It was recently reported that the UK has fallen out of the top 20 most gender-equal countries in the world for the first time, after women’s incomes fell by £2,700 over the past year. The UK is now behind Nicaragua, Bulgaria and Burundi for women having an equal chance of a good education, career and health.

Commenting on the figures, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“It is small wonder that Britain is plummeting down the international league tables when it comes to gender equality.

“Four decades on from the Equal Pay Act women are still losing out on pay and career opportunities.

“It feels like the glass ceiling is getting stronger not weaker and we need a much tougher approach to stop future generations of women from suffering this pay penalty. Companies must be held more accountable for how they pay their staff and made to publish information.

“The government must also tackle the problem of poverty pay which is another reason for the gender pay gap. Ministers need to take a serious look at why so many jobs in Britain pay so little when employers can easily afford to pay staff more.”

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