New research has revealed that Scottish women working in the technology sector are being paid £20,000 less than their male counterparts.
The research, carried out by careers marketplace Haystack, looked at the minimum expected salary of 1,010 of its current users in the tech industry.
Scottish women working in the industry expect an average minimum salary of £22,000 per year, compared to men, who expect £40,714 - a difference of £18,714.
The average minimum salary for women in tech was £34,148 per year, compared to the men’s, which was £40,809.
More men than women had the most lucrative skills listed in their experience, potentially affecting their earning potential. The top skilled tech job was a docker, which had 12.33% of men with the skills, compared with 4.7% of women with those skills
Mike Davies, co-founder at Haystack, said: “Studie s have shown that women are more likely to accept job offers faster than men, meaning they are less likely to negotiate on the offered salary, and with many job adverts not disclosing the offered salary as anything other than 'competitive', as long as what is on offer matches their minimum, women are more likely to take a role without question.
“This is what perpetuates the gender pay gap - if women go into an interview with a lower expected salary and have been found to accept roles faster than their male counterparts, they will always be accepting less money than men going for the same job - whereas men, with a higher minimum expected salary and more likely to negotiate, will walk away with a higher salary.
“Tech organisations need to start thinking about how they can put their best foot forward and not shy away from publishing salaries," he added. "We've found that this not only increases the overall application rate but also means that more women are happy to step up and value themselves accordingly, rather than relying on misaligned information.”
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