Female board members at FTSE 100 companies are paid 69% less than their male counterparts, underscoring the persistent gender pay gap at the highest levels of British business.

According to research by Fox & Partners, the employment and partnership law specialists, women in board roles took home an average of £335,953 last year, compared with £1,073,445 for men. While this marks a slight improvement from a 70% gap in 2022, it remains significantly wider than the 13.1% gender pay gap across the broader UK labour market, as reported by the Office for National Statistics in April 2024.

Catriona Watt, partner at Fox & Partners, said: “It’s encouraging to see the gender pay gap has slightly shrunk over the past year for directors of the UK’s largest businesses, but obviously the figures show that there is still a considerable way to go.”

A key factor contributing to the disparity is the concentration of women in non-executive director positions. The research found that 91% of female directors hold non-executive roles, which typically come with less responsibility and lower remuneration compared to full-time executive positions. In contrast, men are more frequently appointed to higher-paying executive roles and senior non-executive positions such as chair.

Among executive directors, the pay gap stands at 29.8%, with female executives earning an average of £2,332,334 compared to £3,150,424 for their male counterparts. Women also earn less in non-executive roles, with female non-executive directors paid an average of £127,593, while men receive £191,381—a gap of 40%.

Women remain underrepresented in the most senior positions within the UK’s largest listed companies. Currently, only nine FTSE 100 companies are led by female chief executives, including Margherita Della Valle at Vodafone and Dame Emma Walmsley at GSK. Allison Kirkby recently became the most recent female chief executive after taking the helm at BT.

“We noted several years ago that listed companies were achieving boardroom gender diversity almost exclusively by appointing women to non-exec roles rather than executive roles,” Watt observed. “That flattered their figures but meant that women were still largely excluded from the arguably most important and most highly paid corporate jobs.”

However, there are signs of progress. The number of female executive directors increased to 43 in 2023, up from 39 the previous year. Watt emphasised that the UK’s leading companies should continue to invest in promoting female opportunities, mentoring, and cultural change to make “a significant impact on the gender pay gap”