Never mind the gap: survey shows women face a gender cap

Never mind the gap: survey shows women face a gender cap.

On average, women in accounting and finance roles earn 32.6% less than men. But it’s not pay disparity across like jobs causing the gap – it’s the lack of women making it to the top jobs.

Auckland company Consult Recruitment surveyed nearly 9,000 people in roles from Data Entry to Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and found that overall find the mean male salary was 32.6% ahead of the mean female salary.

Dig deeper though, and there’s another story. Females aren’t necessarily paid less than their male peers for the same role. Females earn more than males in half of the roles that the survey analysed. Across the majority of roles, the pay difference between genders is less than 5%, which is more likely down to other factors other than just gender.

So why do men earn 32.6% more than women?

It’s the top roles where the gender balance and pay difference is largest. 85% of CFOs surveyed were male, and they were also paid 17% more than their female equivalents.

While these top roles are only a small percentage of all jobs, the large dollar differences and percentage of males prop up the male average. Roles where women are paid more than men include Accounts Payable and Receivable Managers, which typically pay less than a CFO or Commercial Manager.

Angela Cameron, Managing Director at Consult Recruitment, says it's important to dig deeper than the headline numbers. “A lot of people would look at the 32.6% figure and assume that men earn 32.6% more than women across the board, but this simply isn’t true. The majority of women we surveyed earn similar amounts to their male peers and in many cases they earn more.”

While Angela says the low number of women in the top jobs is a concern, there are some encouraging signs. Females are starting to get paid more than males in several senior roles such as Financial Controllers and Business Analysts.

What the survey shows though, says Angela, is that the most effective way to reduce the overall pay gap is to get more women get into senior roles and make sure they’re paid the same as their male equivalents.

These findings are from a survey of nearly 9,000 accounting and finance professionals across Auckland in the past two years. The survey is analysed by Consult Recruitment and is presented in their latest salary guide.
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