Women ‘believe they will never earn as much as men’

Posted 09/03/2012

Over half of female workers in the UK do not think women will ever receive pay equal to that of men, new research has revealed.Conducted by PwC, the study discovered 53 per cent of female employees to be of this opinion, compared with 29 per cent of males.Furthermore, although 62 per cent of women think strict gender roles are less pronounced both at home and in the office, three out of five said childcare will prevent them from furthering their careers.Dawn Nicholson, human resources consulting partner at PwC, said: “This pessimistic outlook from women is also one of the forces that seems to suppress female aspirations and ambition at work.”Both sexes thought the IT industry will provide the most opportunities for women in the future.An investigation carried out by the European Commission recently revealed women in Europe earn an average of 16.4 per cent less than men, despite the idea of equal pay being a part of European Union employment law since 1957.