Press Release

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30/10/2008

Women in IT: survey shows improvement in equality, but further work on transparency needed

Surveyed women working in the technology industry feel in the dark over equal pay, ground still to be made with transparency.

Intellect’s third annual Perceptions of equal pay survey (PDF 1MB), published today, shows that the majority of women working in the technology industry either do not believe that their pay is comparable to their male colleagues, or simply do not know. The survey shows some improvements in the perceptions of equality, but there remains a strong indication from respondents that industry needs to offer more transparency with pay.

Today is also the Fawcett Society’s ‘No Pay Day’ – the date from which women work for free until the end of the year, if the 17% average pay gap between men and women is taken into account. In the technology industry the reality is tougher, with women facing a pay gap of around 23%.

The Perceptions of Equal Pay 2008 survey was conducted online during the summer of this year. 330 employees from across the technology industry took part in this survey.  Key findings include:

• 53% of respondents either believe that their pay is not comparable to their male colleagues who perform a similar role or do not know. There has, however, been an improvement since 2006 in the number of respondents who feel that their pay is comparable to men - up to 47% from  37%. 

• 57% of respondents believe that their company does not have a transparent pay structure. This figure has stayed consistent since the survey began in 2006 indicating that female employees still feel in the dark over pay transparency.

• Half of respondents feel that equal pay is the only area in which their company’s policy is followed only in theory.

• Only 8% of respondents said their company has carried out an equal pay audit, although this is over double that of the last 2 years. 68% did not know if their company conducted an equal pay audit.

• 77% of those surveyed believe that equal pay audits should be compulsory for all organisations.

• 69% believe it would encourage them to work for a company if they had carried out an equal pay review.

• In other areas of equality respondents believe that their organisation supports the policies of diversity and flexible working in practice, with 55% and 59% respectively. Further to this 80% believe their organisation encourages women and men equally to apply for promotion, with 77% believing they would be treated the same if they asked to be promoted.

• For the first time in the perceptions of pay survey respondents were asked whether they had taken maternity leave, 66% said they had not.  

Gillian Arnold, STG DICOM Technical Manager at IBM and chair of Intellect’s Women in IT Forum said:

“Thirty Eight years ago the government brought in the equal pay act to ensure that women were paid the same as their male peers when they did equal work. After almost four decades we still have a pay gap of 17% for full time women, and that gap is wider, at 21%, for women working in the IT Industry. The great news from this year's survey is that whilst many women still believe that they are paid less than their male colleagues, they are aware that their companies are starting to do something about it. Companies will want to ensure that they advertise the fact that they undertake the audits to gain the obvious benefits for retention and recruitment, as shown by the most recent survey.”

Carrie Hartnell, Programme Manager at Intellect, said:

“Since Intellect began this survey in 2006 there have been some positive moves made within the industry to improve equality, and this is borne out in the improved perceptions that women are showing. There is much to be proud of with many signs of improvement, yet more work needs to be done if the industry is to reduce the pay gap.”

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