Barclays has revealed a concerning trend in the global financial industry, claiming that the average salary of male employees of its investment bank unit is more than double that of female employees.
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The advancement of men into primary roles at the bank illustrate the struggles that women endure on their quest to reach the pinnacle of the highly competitive financial sector.
Gender Gap is Very Real
With regard to discretionary bonuses paid to employees at Barclays’ corporate and investment bank entities, the gender gap has increased to 79%.
According to the bank’s annual report, women’s salaries at Barclays UK are 26% lower than men. Moreover, the bonuses distributed to women are also 60% less than the amounts received by their male counterparts.
To illustrate the extent of the gender gap, and the lack of women in senior and executive positions, it is pertinent to assess the state of employment at the bank. Current estimates indicate that Barclays employs 79,900 individuals throughout its overall global operations, of which roughly 44% are women.
However, there are 555 senior and executive managers at Barclays, of which just about 33% are women.
Barclays’ CEO Jes Staley commented on the recent gender data: “I want to make it clear that Barclays is doing its part in the long evolution of providing gender equality. We are not going to give absolute targets, but we’d like to get the gap down.”
UK Women in Finance Charter
Amid recent pressure applied by the UK’s Women in Finance Charter, led by Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, banks are being pressed to narrow the gender gap, and to further support the advancement of women into prominent roles across the industry.
The charter has urged banks that have yet to participate in the initiative to either do so, or to offer an explicit explanation for their lack of support for the charter’s agenda.
