eFinancialCareers

New figures suggest women earn marginally more than men in senior internal audit roles in the City. But at junior levels, they’re still paid less.

The survey, by Longbridge Search & Selection, found that women earn on average 5% less than men (£65.2k compared to £68.5k) for the same auditing jobs within banks – although senior women out-earn the men.

Just one in four auditors moving jobs in the City is a woman. John Lacey, Longbridge’s managing director, says, “Men are far more inclined to change jobs, as this often represents the quickest career progression. Women tend to be more settled.”

Laura Kirk of recruiters WH Marks Sattin says this may explain the pay gap. “Loyalty isn’t always rewarded – so if women move less frequently, it follows that they may earn less, although I haven’t detected an actual preference for male candidates; employers just wouldn’t see the point in discriminating.”

Women in senior management roles earn on average £87.1k, compared to £87k for men. “At the senior end, they knock the socks off men in terms of ambition and zeal,” says Lacey. “Only the most exceptional, go-getting careerist women make it to the top – they’re self-selecting. And because there are so many male auditors, it’s harder for men to stand out from the herd.”

But having so few women at the top isn’t good for the City, he says: “Banks lose out by not embracing women, who don’t fit traditional masculine stereotypes. We need more women coming through – and once they make up a greater share of the workforce, they won’t be forced to act like ball-breaking men to get ahead.”