“The figures that we have here are so very stark."
Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage women in the UK are earning nearly a third less an hour than white British men, something a pay gap campaigner says “should be causing national outrage”.
Analysis of pay data also revealed that mixed-race women and Black Caribbean heritage women take home 25% less money than their white male counterparts.
The Fawcett Society published the figures on January 8, which has been designated Ethnicity Pay Gap Day 2024.
Researchers analysed statistics from a gender pay gap report that was published by the campaign group in November 2023.
The figures show major differences between groups of women and an even bigger disparity with men.
Fawcett’s head of policy Alesha De-Freitas said the ethnicity pay gap was “creating double trouble for Black and minoritised women” in the UK.
She said: “The figures that we have here are so very stark.
“The fact that women of Bangladeshi heritage are earning on average almost a third less per hour than white British men should be causing national outrage.”
The analysis revealed a 14.7% pay gap between women of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage and white British women.
When compared with white British men, the figure is 28.4%.
The gap is 25% between women of Black Caribbean heritage and white British men.
Dianne Greyson founded the campaign group that created the annual Ethnicity Pay Gap Day. She urged the government to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.
She said:
“Ultimately, unless companies know what their pay gap is and who it hits hardest, then how can they begin to close it?”
“We need more employers sharing knowledge and putting this issue at the top of their agenda, and I’m looking forward to discussing this further at our ethnicity pay gap summit in February.”
The Fawcett report identifies bias as a major reason for the ethnicity and gender pay gap.
It points out that 75% of women of colour have experienced racism at work while 42% said they were passed over for promotion despite good feedback.
Meanwhile, the figure for white women is 27%.
According to Ms De-Freitas, mandatory reporting worked.
She added: “Mandatory gender pay gap reporting has effectively exposed and driven action to close the gender pay gap.
“We are urging the government to make ethnicity pay gap reporting mandatory as well.
“But we must go further and ensure that companies with persistent gaps are required to publish action plans for closing and are held to account when they do not.”
It is the first data on the subject since the Covid-19 pandemic.
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