The Isle of Wight Council’s Gender Pay Gap Report has been quietly published on their Website. It shows that both on the Mean and Median hourly pay rates, women are paid less than men at the council.
The council state in the report that they are, “confident that its gender pay gap does not stem from paying male and female employees differently for the same or equivalent work”.
Details of rates and gap
The different rates are broken down in two ways
- Mean is the average – All of the hourly rates added up, divided by the number of people
- Median is the middle value in a list of each person’s hourly rate
Women’s mean hourly rate is 9.6% lower than men’s
In other words when comparing mean hourly rates, women earn 90p for every £1 that men earn.
Women’s median hourly rate is 14.9% lower than men’s
In other words when comparing median hourly rates, women earn 85p for every £1 that men earn.
The figures
Mean
Females: £12.60
Males: £13.93
Gap: 9.6%
Median
Females: £10.57
Males: £12.42
Gap: 14.9%
More women than men at all levels
At all pay levels at the council, there are more women employed than men.
How does the council explain the gap?
The report is embedded below, so you can read through the detail yourself.
“The council’s senior management team is committed to equality including achieving gender pay equality, demonstrated by the operation of a Strategic Equality and Diversity Board.”
After detailing that 79% of part-time roles are occupied by women, the report goes to say:
“One explanation for this might be that part-time roles often afford greatest flexibility for those with caring responsibilities, who generally are more likely to be female.
“The council therefore is confident that its gender pay gap does not stem from paying male and female employees differently for the same or equivalent work. Rather its gender pay gap is the result of the roles in which male and females work within the council and the salaries that these roles attract.”
How to correct the imbalance?
The council has a page titled ‘Action plan’ at the end of the document (below), which has three points, none of which are to pay women the same as men.
No bonuses for council employees
The report, which covers the period 2016/17 also reveals that no bonuses were paid over the period. Other nearby local councils, such as Hampshire County Council, have paid bonuses to their staff.
Gender Pay Gap Report – March 2018
Update 20:15 Added a quote to the top of the article from the council’s document, for the benefit of those who don’t read the full article.
