Women in travel are still routinely earning less than their male equivalents despite holding the vast majority of roles within the industry, according to new research.
Females accounted for 67% of all new travel placements in the first four months of 2017, but received smaller pay packets than their male counterparts in almost all levels of the industry.
Women starting new executive roles took home an average of £47,571, which was 7.56% less than the typical male executive at £51,167.
Women earned 1.54% less than men in senior roles paying between £30,000 and £39,999 and 3.21% below males in mid-level travel positions paying between £22,000 and £29,999.
The sole exception was for junior travel roles paying below £22,000, where women’s pay was marginally ahead by 0.53% or £96 – £18,126 compared to £18,030.
Barbara Kolosinska, director at C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment, which carried out the study, said: “It feels as though we’ve been talking about the gender pay gap forever and yet our new figures show that the problem is still prevalent in the travel industry.
“Thankfully, the gap has all but disappeared for entry level and junior roles, but women are still routinely earning less than men for the average mid-level or senior position.
“When female executives are typically earning £3,500 less than men in similar roles, it is evident that we have an issue.
“The travel industry is a fantastic place for both women and men to work, and I believe we have a far better attitude and approach to gender equality than many other industries, but it is clear that more can still be done.”
In terms of the number of new placements made so far this year, C&M’s research shows that women now outnumber men at all levels of the industry.
In total, women accounted for three quarters of all junior placements in the first four months of the year, 66% of all mid-level appointments, 51% of all senior positions and 54% of all executive placements.
“Our figures show that more women have been appointed in senior and executive roles than men so far this year and that is a truly encouraging finding,” said Kolosinska,
“We have become used to seeing men hold the majority of high-powered jobs in the UK, but it seems that the travel industry could be the exception.
“These figures are in contrast to those from the start of last year, so whether this proves to be a long-term trend or merely a short-term blip will be fascinating to see and we will be keeping a close eye on this throughout the rest of 2017.”