Legal Sector Gender Pay Gap More Pronounced Around Motherhood

Following on from our #iwd2023 post on The Legal Sector Gender Pay Gap last Thursday we thought it might be interesting to get a bit more granular with the data we acquired when compiling our 2023 Salary and Benefits Benchmarker.

Just as a refresher, our data driven story was centred around the 37% of female legal professionals who believe they are being paid below market rate in their jobs compared to 33% of male legal professionals. Moving that on a bit we can reveal that those female legal professionals who believe they are being paid below market rate perceive that salary levels are on average 23% less than the market rate for their role and responsibilities, that is compared to a 20% discount for male legal professionals.

Moving that on even further there is a good case for the argument that the legal sector pay gap is more pronounced around motherhood. According to ONS data, the average age of mothers in England and Wales is 30.7 years, and many female legal professionals are waiting until their mid-thirties and beyond to have their first children. The numbers of female legal professionals who believe they are underpaid and the perceived value of the salary deficit starts to rise in the 26-41 age range and is most pronounced around the 42-57 age range, when 42% believe they are underpaid and the perception is that salary is discounted 25% below market rate. We are saying that the average salary in legal currently is around the ￡51,700, and this is not just a challenge for female lawyers, family units are potentially missing out on ￡12,925 of extra income a year.?????????

It’s not science of course, instead our aim is to create talking points and LinkedIn is of course a great forum for that. Interested to hear about your experience and if our findings resonate in any way.??