Gender pay disparity just as much an issue at the top as it is at the bottom

According to research conducted by the High Pay Centre, senior executives of FTSE 100 companies currently make an average of £4.5m per annum.

While that figure is down 17% from the £5.4m recorded by the centre in 2015, it is still a stark contrast when put against the average income of a full-time employee in the UK at £28,000 before tax.

High-profile executives, like Sir Martin Sorrell at WPP, who took a £22m pay cut and Rakesh Kapoor, chief executive over at Reckitt Benckiser, who went from being the highest paid FTSE 100 chief in 2015 at £25.5m to having his pay packet almost halved to £14.6m in 2016, contributed to the fall.

Director of the High Pay Centre, Stefan Stern noted that although a "limited and very late" fall had been recorded it took political pressure and "the spotlight of hostile public opinion" to reach the £4.5m figure.

In 2015, a CEO would receive £148 for every £1 that the average employee would earn. In 2016, that dropped to £129.

GENDER WAGE DISPARITY

Peter Cheese, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which carried out the research in conjunction with the High Pay Centre added that its study showed a "clear gender pay disparity at the top, with female CEOs receiving less than their male peers."

Of the top 100 jobs in 2016, just six were held by women, with the report stating that as a FTSE 100 CEO it was "more likely that your name is David than you being a female," with eight senior positions being held by people with that name.

At an average salary of £2.6m, female CEOs are earning 77% less than their male counterparts.

"Quite rightly this issue of fairness is increasingly being called out and this needs to be addressed at all levels of businesses," said Cheese.

Within the last week, journalists at the Financial Times, which has a 50/50 split between male and female employees, voted to take industrial action over the 13% pay gap in its editorial staff, the biggest shortfall in a decade, demanding that the FT, "put its money where its mouth is."

On Tuesday, the Church of England also became embroiled in the ongoing controversy as it published figures that showed male employees at its central office received an astonishing 41% more than their female counterparts, who also made up 74% of the lowest paid employees.

Director-general of the BBC, Tony Hall was the recipient of an open letter in July where more than 40 high-profile women demanded he "do the right thing" to stamp out the pay gap in its halls, where female presenters earned an average of 10% less than men.

Edwin Morgan of the Institute of Directors told the BBC that the gender pay gap was just part of the problem in promoting women to senior roles, stating that, "There's also unconscious bias. It is a big systemic problem and it is not just the pay issue."

The report went on to say that it wanted to see Theresa May, who herself earns just £6,000 more per year than London mayor Sadiq Kahn, be more critical of executive pay and the, "growing gap between rewards for those at the top and those who were just about managing." Going on to demand that the PM stick to her guns and, "introduce a bill to reform executive pay before the year end."

Saying that it should be seen by the top firms as a "mechanism to bring about greater fairness and transparency at work, and avoid the demotivating effects of unjustified wage gaps."