The gender pay gap for board members of FTSE 100 organisations has narrowed over the past year, with the average pay for women (£335,953) 68% lower than the average pay for men (£1.1 million), according to new research by Fox and Partners.
The employment and partnership law firm found that the gender pay gap had decreased from 70% in 2022 to 69% in 2023.
The gap has narrowed in part as the pay for women has increased faster than the pay for male board members, at 9% over the past year from £308,984. Average pay for male directors only increased 3% to £1.07 million from £1.04 million in 2022.
The research also found that the gap remains high in part because 91% of female directors hold non-executive positions, which are paid less than executive roles, while men hold more senior non-executive positions with higher pay.
On average, male executive directors earn 35% more than female directors, and non-executive male pay is 50% higher than that for women. Despite this, the number of female executive directors increased by 10% to 43 in 2023, up from 39 in 2022.
Catriona Watt, partner at Fox and Partners, said: “It’s encouraging to see the gender pay gap has slightly shrunk over the past year for directors of the UK’s largest businesses, but the figures show that there is still a considerable way to go. We noted that listed organisations were achieving boardroom gender diversity almost exclusively by appointing women to non-executive roles. That flattered their figures but meant that women were still largely excluded from the arguably most important and most highly paid corporate jobs. That now seems to be changing.
“FTSE 100 organisations need to continue investing in schemes that promote female opportunities, mentoring and role modelling, and working on culture and appropriate infrastructure to allow women to thrive and make a significant impact on the gender pay gap. They should focus on improving their diversity and fostering an inclusive environment in their organisations at large, with appropriate messaging from the top down.”
