Financial Times admits gender disparity in pay

Jemima Kiss of the Guardian newspaper in London writes Tuesday that the Financial Times newspaper has a problem with how it pays its business journalists.

Kiss writes, “In a confidential internal memo obtained by MediaGuardian.co.uk, the managing editor, Dan Bogler, acknowledged that ‘the bald statistics show that women are paid less than men for equivalent jobs at the FT’ but then said the problem was largely down to length of service.

“‘This does not take into account the fact that, on average, our female staff have shorter service records than their male colleagues, which explains the difference,’ he wrote.

“‘Pay within the editorial department is negotiated on an individual basis, usually with me, and I reject the implication that I am systematically or deliberately paying women less than men.’

“The email is just the latest chapter in a long-running pay dispute with FT staff, who voted on Tuesday to ‘use the appropriate equality legislation’ to address ‘massive anomalies in pay.'”

Read more here.