New figures released by the Office for National Statistics show the gender pay gap has widened for the first time in six years.
Among full-time workers, men were paid 8.9% more than women this year, reversing the long-term pattern of the gender pay gap narrowing.
Part of the reason for this rise was an increase in inequality among highly paid managers, professionals and senior officials, which widened from 13.9% to 15.9%.
It is illegal to pay women less than men for the same work, so the fact the gender pay gap remains is an indication of the extent to which men hold a disproportionate amount of the top jobs.
Statutory pay gap reporting, now in its second year, has brought gender equality into sharper focus, but it only covers businesses with more than 250 employees and, of course, the majority of businesses in the travel and tourism sector fall under that threshold.
ITT will be pushing the government to reduce that threshold to 50 and to also introduce ethnicity pay gap reporting to further highlight the lack of diversity within highly paid positions.
The Fawcett Society, a gender equality group, is calling for more flexible jobs and longer parental leave for new fathers, to encourage them to share childcare.
This makes sense because it is aged 30 to 39, when many employees become parents, that women’s pay often takes a nosedive.