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

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  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.

#	Place	Male average salary (£)	Female average salary (£)	Difference male-female av. salaries (£)*	How much more men are paid than women (%)*
1	Arun	26,654	26,694	-40	-0.15
2	Sunderland	26,635	26,593	42	0.16
3	North East Derbyshire	26,740	26,691	49	0.18
4	Swansea	28,525	28,688	-163	-0.57
5	Southend-on-Sea	28,952	29,185	-233	-0.80
6	Stirling	32,258	32,722	-464	-1.44
7	Tunbridge Wells	27,942	27,524	418	1.50
8	Dumfries and Galloway	27,207	27,627	-420	-1.54
9	Thanet	26,442	26,014	428	1.62
10	Bedford	29,629	29,133	496	1.67

*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.

#	Place	Male average salary (£)	Female average salary (£)	Difference female-male av. salaries (£)	How much more women are paid than men (%)
1	East Hampshire	28,087	32,173	4,086	14.55
2	Chorley	25,285	28,258	2,973	11.76
3	Conwy	24,634	27,469	2,835	11.51
4	Rushcliffe	29,609	32,720	3,111	10.51
5	Gwynedd	25,501	27,990	2,489	9.76
6	South Oxfordshire	32,861	35,964	3,103	9.44
7	Burnley	21,483	23,433	1,950	9.08
8	North Ayrshire	30,762	33,148	2,386	7.76
9	Ceredigion	27,016	28,580	1,564	5.79
10	Carmarthenshire	28,300	29,548	1,248	4.41

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.

#	Place	Male average salary (£)	Female average salary (£)	Difference male-female av. salaries (£)	How much more men are paid than women (%)
1	South Derbyshire	33,967	17,484	16,483	48.53
2	Mole Valley	49,222	29,276	19,946	40.52
3	Na h-Eileanan Siar	34,911	21,518	13,393	38.36
4	Dartford	43,009	26,765	16,244	37.77
5	Erewash	32,568	20,807	11,761	36.11
6	Redditch	37,023	24,105	12,918	34.89
7	Gosport	39,237	25,797	13,440	34.25
8	North Hertfordshire	38,948	25,649	13,299	34.15
9	Rugby	42,543	28,365	14,178	33.33
10	East Cambridgeshire	33,611	22,448	11,163	33.21

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.”