UK Women In Tech Ask For Same As Men But Get Less

Evidence from a new UK based report claims that women in technology are offered less money than their male counterparts at every level, making the gender pay gap multiply as they advance in their chosen industry.

The study, conducted by Hired Inc. took into account more than 10,000 employment offers from the UK, and found that while women at the start of their technology career generally ask for the same amount of money as men, on average they were offered 7% less.

The report goes on to state that after 2-6 years of working, women were still seeking equal amounts of pay as men, but getting 10% less.

These discrepancies between gender pay increase and build up over the years, and crucially, it seems that as their career’s progress women’s expectations of their worth also decrease. Hired Inc’s study showed that women with 6 years or more experience were also prone to undervaluing themselves, asking for salaries 10-15% greater when going for new jobs.

But tellingly, it seems that when looking for betting remuneration deals these figures are on average 18% less than what men look for. Even worse, it seems that when a job offer is then given, women will receive 31% less in salary overall than men.

“Inequalities start off small, but that compounds with every raise, every job change and every promotion over the course of a woman’s career,” said Jessica Kirkpatrick, the Hired data scientist who prepared the report. “The wage gap can go away if we can have women set their wage expectations based on market data, rather than just adding a percentage to their current salary,” Kirkpatrick said.

Overall, Hired Inc’s figures show that gender disparity currently sits at 9%, a result that surprised KirkPatrick, considering the amount of “equality regulation in the UK.’

In comparison, the pay gap in the USA was 8%, and 7% in Canada. This inequality may not last for much longer however, as new legislation in the UK that will come into effect in 2018, will make it mandatory for any company operating there with more than 250 people, to publish figures relating to their gender pay gap.