Don’t work here: top 10 WORST workplaces for women

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Image credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay

  • Fairest: Arun in West Sussex is the fairest place in the country to work in
  • Best for women: Women in East Hampshire are paid significantly more than men
  • Worst for women: South Derbyshire pays women only half of men’s salaries

A new study reveals the UK’s fairest, best and worst places to work as a woman, compared to how much men are paid.

The research, carried out by www.income-tax.co.uk, used the latest data available from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to analyse the differences in median annual pay for male and female full-time workers in 321 districts and units across the UK.

The district of Arun, in the heart of the country’s south coast, is the most gender-balanced workplace in the UK. On average, men in Arun have an annual income of £26,740, whereas women get £26,694 per year – £40 more than their male counterparts. That represents only a 0.15% pay difference.

North East England has Sunderland to pe proud of for closing in on the gender gap, coming in a close second behind Arun. The difference between men’s and women’s average annual pay in Sunderland is only £42.

Just outside of Sheffield, North East Derbyshire completes the podium as the third fairest workplace in the UK in terms of annual salaries, regardless of one’s gender. Men only earn £49 more on average every year than women.

#PlaceMale average salary (£)Female average salary (£)Difference male-female av. salaries (£)*How much more men are paid than women (%)*
1Arun26,65426,694-40-0.15
2Sunderland26,63526,593420.16
3North East Derbyshire26,74026,691490.18
4Swansea28,52528,688-163-0.57
5Southend-on-Sea28,95229,185-233-0.80
6Stirling32,25832,722-464-1.44
7Tunbridge Wells27,94227,5244181.50
8Dumfries and Galloway27,20727,627-420-1.54
9Thanet26,44226,0144281.62
10Bedford29,62929,1334961.67

*negative value means women are paid more than men

While most of these places fall behind in terms of the UK’s average gross annual salary of £31,285, except for Stirling, they do make up in gender equality. Male and female wages in these 10 places only vary by up to £500 a year.

Top 10 best workplaces for women

The area that inspired Jane Austen to pen some of her most well-known novels is now the best paying place for women to work in compared to men. Females working full-time in East Hampshire earn an average £4,086 more than males.

Chorley and Conwy are the second and third, respectively, best paid places for women to earn more than men. Here, female full-timers earn almost three thousand pounds more than males.

The two places could not be more different in terms of their economic backgrounds. Historically, Chorley grew most after the Industrial Revolution, host to many important cotton mills, while Conwy is home to one of Kind Edward I’s castles. US Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently visited Chorley for the 2021 G7 Speakers’ summit, which gave the local economy an immediate boost.

#PlaceMale average salary (£)Female average salary (£)Difference female-male av. salaries (£)How much more women are paid than men (%)
1East Hampshire28,08732,1734,08614.55
2Chorley25,28528,2582,97311.76
3Conwy24,63427,4692,83511.51
4Rushcliffe29,60932,7203,11110.51
5Gwynedd25,50127,9902,4899.76
6South Oxfordshire32,86135,9643,1039.44
7Burnley21,48323,4331,9509.08
8North Ayrshire30,76233,1482,3867.76
9Ceredigion27,01628,5801,5645.79
10Carmarthenshire28,30029,5481,2484.41

Top 10 worst workplaces for women

At the opposite extremity of the gender pay gap is South Derbyshire – by far the worst offender. While deemed as one of the best places to live in England, women here only get about half of what men are paid. The data from the ONS suggests that, while men’s yearly salaries average to £33,967, women in South Derbyshire earn only £17,484. This is in high contrast to its county fellow North East Derbyshire, mentioned earlier, which ranks as the third fairest-paying place in the UK for both men and women.

As charming as its landscapes may be, Mole Valley paints a grim picture when it comes to gender equality in the workplace. Surprisingly, according to income-tax.co.uk, Mole Valley, is the UK’s eighth best paid place to work in, yet it fails to pay women anywhere near as much as men. While male full-timers rake in £49,222 per year on average, women in this Surrey district get 40.52% less.

The stunning island chain of Outer Hebrides on the north west coast of Scotland, also known as the Western Isles or Na h-Eileanan Siar in Scottish Gaelic, trails right behind as the third worst for gender pay equality. Women get around a third less than men.

With only 29,000 living in Outer Hebrides, the islands rely heavily on tourism. Attracting roughly 219,000 visitors every year, tourism directly supports around a thousand jobs and hundreds of local businesses on the islands. Unfortunately, men rip most of the benefits, 38.36% more than women, to be precise. The average woman working in Outer Hebrides earns £21,518 a year, whereas men have an annual income of £34,911.

#PlaceMale average salary (£)Female average salary (£)Difference male-female av. salaries (£)How much more men are paid than women (%)
1South Derbyshire33,96717,48416,48348.53
2Mole Valley49,22229,27619,94640.52
3Na h-Eileanan Siar34,91121,51813,39338.36
4Dartford43,00926,76516,24437.77
5Erewash32,56820,80711,76136.11
6Redditch37,02324,10512,91834.89
7Gosport39,23725,79713,44034.25
8North Hertfordshire38,94825,64913,29934.15
9Rugby42,54328,36514,17833.33
10East Cambridgeshire33,61122,44811,16333.21

A spokesperson for income-tax.co.uk commented on the findings: “Our research suggests that some of the fairest employers are not necessarily the richest. Quite the opposite, in fact – districts with high-paying jobs in general tend to pay women much less.

“The difference in wages for males and females in Mole Valley is quite remarkable. Considering they can afford to pay men almost 50k a year, it is surprising that they slash 20k for women working there.

“Arun, Sunderland and North East Derbyshire were a nice surprise and employers operating there should get more credit for offering virtually equal pay for men and women. It is very fitting that women in East Hampshire, home to Jane Austen in her last eight prolific years, would earn nearly 15% more than men – the biggest leap of all.”


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