'Little progress' made in closing gender pay gap in Scotland, report warns

There has been little progress in narrowing the gender pay gap across Scotland over the past five years, with growing inequality in male-dominated sectors, according to a damning new report.

The average pay gap of employers in Scotland remains at 12 per cent, with the vast majority of employers (80 per cent) having a gender pay gap in favour of men, up from 78 per cent in 2021, the analysis by Close the Gap shows.

It found that last year, there were high pay gaps of up to 80 per cent in some areas which traditionally employ more men than women, such as sport, construction, finance and manufacturing. That represents a sharp increase from up to 60 per cent in those sectors in 2021.

The average pay gap in the most male-dominated organisations in 2022 stood at 24 per cent, up three percentage points on the previous 12 months. High bonus gaps of up to 100 per cent also continue to define male-dominated sectors.

The advocacy organisation said that while there had been some “positive shifts” in recent years, there were also “persistent problems” that had yet to be addressed.

Positives include the fact that the proportion of employers that have committed to action to tackle their pay gap has almost doubled from around one in five (19 per cent) in 2018 to more than a third (36 per cent) in 2022.

Indeed, the report singles out some employers for praise, such as First Bus, which has taken long-term action to attract more women and has doubled its female workforce since 2017. Similarly, Close the Gap said there has been a significant increase in the proportion of employers publishing a narrative report alongside their pay gap information, with almost half (48 per cent) doing so in 2022, compared to less than a third (30 per cent) five years ago.

However, its analysis found that the vast majority of those analyses (76 per cent) were of “poor quality,” indicating many employers still need to build their understanding of how to use their data in order to drive change.

The report by Close the Gap says more needs to be done to close the gender pay gap in Scotland. Picture: Joe Giddens/PA

The report warned that while there were some “green shoots,” Scotland was “still a long way from seeing the level of consistency and commitment needed to tackle women’s inequality in the workplace.” It added that most employer action was still “small scale and untargeted,” which is “not enough.”

Anna Ritchie Allan, Close the Gap’s executive director, said there was a need for regulations to be strengthened to require employers to develop and publish action plans, and report on their progress against it.

She said “It’s welcome to see more employers taking action on the gender pay gap, and we’re pleased to share good practice where it is happening. However, the majority of action described remains small-scale and untargeted.

“It’s possible to shift the needle on the gender pay gap, but it requires companies to understand why they’ve got a pay gap and then take steps that will create change.”

She added: “Five years since gender pay gap reporting was introduced, two-thirds of employers still haven’t committed to action. It’s clear that reporting alone doesn’t create change, and we need stronger regulations that compel employers to take action to address the systemic inequalities women face in the workplace.”