WOMEN at one of York’s biggest employers earn on average almost 40 per cent less than men as gender pay gap figures reveal females are falling behind in the city’s education sector.

Yesterday, for the first time, the gap between men and women’s pay packets was made available to the public by every organisation across the country employing more than 250 staff.

The data, which is based on hourly earnings, covers the difference between the middle female earner and middle male earner in an organisation’s pay range (the median), as well as the difference between the average earning figures for each gender, taken from dividing the total salary payout by the number of staff (mean).

Nationally the median pay gap showed women earned 9.7 per cent less, taken from more than 10,000 companies that published pay reports.

In York, the figures from the city’s largest employers revealed the biggest gender pay gaps lie in the education sector.

Previously-published data from City of York Council had already revealed that the gap in average weekly wages between men and women in York has widened from £33 in 2010 to £117 in 2017.

In a table featuring the five largest public sector organisations and the five largest private employers with headquarters in York, York St John University had the largest pay gap, with the organisation’s middle female worker earning 37.4 per cent less than the middle man. The figure was the equivalent of the woman earning 63p compared to the male colleague’s pound.

York College and the University of York had the second and third highest median gap, while York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust pays women only 71p on average compared to each pound a man earns. The Trust’s bonus pay was also shown to be disadvantaging women as 8 per cent of male staff members were paid bonuses compared to only 0.6 per cent of women.

The financial sector also reported big pay differences, with insurance firms Aviva and Hiscox, which both have a large presence in York, revealing a 27.6 per cent and 26.2 per cent gap respectively.

At Nestle UK, which employs 1,700 people at its site in Haxby Road, the median pay gap is 10 per cent.

Reviewing figures for York, Anna Perrett, organiser of the city’s Women’s Conference which is being held on April 21, said: “A quick search on the government’s gender pay gap reporting website reveals that many of the big employers in York, including within the public sector, continue to pay women less than men.

“As a group of York women we are sick of reading the statistics and have organised the first York Women’s Conference to bring together women across the city to mark 100 years since women won the vote and to see how far we have come in the century since.

“But, after a year of increasing focus on women’s rights, it is clear the suffragette motto of ‘Deeds not Words’ is more necessary than ever as the pace of change is still too slow.”

York St John University said its figures were skewed by a paid student ambassador scheme, which represented more than a fifth of the women included in its data, and claimed that without this “casual workforce” the median gap would be 18.6 per cent.

Vice chancellor Karen Stanton said: “York St John University has a positive record of promoting equality and performs well on many measures of this.

“Like others in our sector and beyond, this exercise has highlighted where we can do more, particularly where one gender is over-represented in certain occupations or jobs.”

The University of York told The Press that tackling its gender pay gap remains “a strategic priority”, with an action plan in place to encourage women to progress to higher levels, while principal of York College, Alison Birkinshaw, said the college’s figures reflected in-house, low-paid catering and cleaning roles, that other organisations would sub-contract.

York-based shoe retailers Pavers had a 50.6 per cent difference in mean pay and a 16.7 per cent difference in median pay.

The company’s managing director Stuart Paver said: “Pavers welcome the UK Government’s requirement for large companies to be more transparent on gender pay. We are confident that for many years we have paid people performing the same role the same pay, regardless of gender.

“The data highlights, like many organisations, that due to proportionately more men in senior and higher paid roles there is an impact on the average pay statistics.”

Amanda Stainton, HR director at Huntington-based Portakabin, which employs more than 1,700 people across the world, said: “We recognise that with more men than women in senior roles, we, like many other businesses around the UK, have a gender pay gap.

“Portakabin exists as a business with integrity and commitment as part of its core values. We are committed to narrowing this gap and ensuring that everyone is fairly represented across the company.”