UK pay equality: Family life and job choice puts women behind men in bonus stakes

Women lag behind men when it comes to workplace bonuses because they are more likely to work in the public or voluntary sector and not the City of London or Canary Wharf. A survey by recruitment firm Glassdoor found 44% of employed men receive a bonus, compared to just 29% of women.

It went on to say three quarters of men who normally receive a bonus still expect to get one in 2015, however only 61% of women who are eligible think they will receive one. Commenting on the figures, Charles Cotton, performance and reward adviser at Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said they did not necessarily mean women were being discriminated against.

"For our own research we asked 2,000 workers about their pay and bonuses for 2014," he said. "We asked our sample if their employers paid bonuses and 34% of men said yes compared to 21% of women. One reason is the type of industries and sectors that women often work in and the jobs types are ones that don't pay a bonus rather than woman are just not being paid bonuses.

"It may not mean that women are being discriminated against. Because they are working in the public and voluntary sector where there is no bonus structure or if there is they are only available to a certain group of people."

Cotton was hopeful the gender gap in bonuses could close under government plans to make larger employers publish gender pay information. The regulations would cover private and voluntary sector employers in England, Scotland and Wales with at least 250 employees.

"We are going to see more transparency in the coming years because the government is looking at closing the gender pay gap by requiring companies to publish more information. Hopefully as we start a shift that will bring pay and bonus equality," he added.

"I think what we need to do is change as a society. Where are the male nurses? Where are the female bankers? If you talk to manufacturing engineers, they say not enough women are going into these roles and that is to do with how girls perceive these industries and maybe that's a problem at school level. There needs to be better career guidance. Boys typically get more pocket money than girls: the gap is established before women enter the world of work."