Championing PAY PARITY

Despite women's significant strides and contributions in the healthcare field, they are paid less than men. Unfortunately, as is the case in most spheres, persistent pay disparities plague the life sciences sector. How big is the gender pay gap in the pharma industry? Are companies and the industry doing enough to address this issue? Let's find out.

- Ayesha Siddiqui

GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) appointment of Emma Walmsley as CEO in 2016 made headlines for more than one reason. Notably, she became the first woman to lead a major pharmaceutical company in big pharma history. Her appointment also drew attention because she was paid less than her male predecessor. Her starting base salary of £1.0 million for 2017 was still lower than that of her predecessor, Andrew Witty, who earned £1.11 million in 2016. An EP Vantage analysis finds that her starting base salary is the lowest awarded to the existing generation of global big pharma chiefs. GSK defended the decision to pay her less based on her experience, pointing out that this would be her first chief executive role.

Years later, she remains the only woman CEO of a big pharma company and the issues of pay parity persist. This highlights the sad affairs of women's representation in leadership roles and unequal pay.

There have been numerous reports highlighting the lack of pay parity in the life sciences sector. According to a report from the World Health Organization, women worldwide still face a 24 per cent salary differential compared to men across the healthcare sector. This figure hasn’t budged much since the early 2000s. The report examined data from 54 countries across all geographic and income regions. The study found a 24 per cent gap after factoring in age, education, and number of working hours.

Another report by Arjuna Capital and Proxy Impact highlighted that the healthcare industry is reported to have the fifth widest adjusted gender pay gap out of 22 industries, at 5.7 per cent as reported by Glassdoor. That gap has improved by 1.5 per cent since 2015. Biotech and pharma are reported to have the smallest adjusted gender pay gap at 2.2 per cent improving 0.8 per cent since 2015.