Women in U.K. Tech Demand and Get Too Little Money

Women in U.K. Tech Demand and Get Too Little Money
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A study of more than 10,000 employment offers by Hired show that women in U.K. technology jobs are offered less money than men at every level, making the size of the gender pay gap multiply as they advance, according to Bloomberg. The median U.K. salary for women in technology fields like software engineering was 9 percent less than that for men, according to the firm, a website focusing on technology jobs. That compares with an overall gender pay gap of about 14 percent in the U.K.

In the U.S., where Hired is based, the overall gender pay gap is 19 percent, while the disparity for women in tech was 8 percent, according to Hired’s data. Women starting their careers ask for roughly the same amount of pay as men do, but get about 7 percent less, the report said. At two to six years of experience, women still seek about the same pay but get 10 percent less.

Those discrepancies build up over the years, during which time women’s expectations of pay also decrease. Often, women ask for salaries that are 10 percent or 15 percent more than what they currently make, undervaluing themselves. Women with six years or more of experience ask for 18 percent less than men do, and they receive 31 percent less. “Inequalities start off small, but that compounds with every raise, every job change and every promotion over the course of a woman’s career,“ said Jessica Kirkpatrick, the Hired data scientist who prepared the report.