Women in
the finance sector lose £250,000 over their working lifetimes because of the
gender pay gap,
according to a survey for the Manufacturing Science and Finance union.
The
research by ICM shows that there is a 55 per cent pay gap between men and women
in the sector and 56 per cent of women questioned said they felt discouraged
from talking about pay.
The MSF,
which is calling for compulsory pay audits, blames much of the pay gap on a
culture of secrecy that has developed in workplaces since the 1980s, encouraged
by individual contracts and performance-related pay.
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Roger
Lyons, the MSF’s
general secretary, said, "This is daylight robbery equivalent to the
pensions mis-selling scandal, which is seriously affecting women’s wealth."
By Lisa Bratby
