Does the gender pay gap apply to freelancing too?

Studies suggest the gender pay gap experienced by staffers is also endured by freelancers, especially those in knowledge-based sectors such as marketing, entertainment and technology.

Research by jobs platform YunoJuno found men in the creative industries have an average day rate of £319, which is £15 more than women were paid on average. Although female freelancer renumeration ranked higher across strategy and client services roles, the study found women were usurped by as much as £50 a day by men in most other creative disciplines, including design, user experience (UX) and film production.

ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS

Outside of the knowledge industries, the rise of the zero hour contract has also had a damning impact on female pay, studies suggest. Zero hour contracts are most likely to be used in low paying, female-dominated industries such as health, social work, retail and hospitality, meaning that women make up around 58% of zero hour contract employees, according to the ONS. Analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found female agency workers earned £80 a week less on average than men in equivalent roles, while female temporary workers earn £60 a week less.

THE IMPACT OF A GENDER PAY GAP

In January 2018, fourteen women gave written testimonies based on their experiences of pay negotiations at the BBC ahead of a Parliamentary Select Committee hearing about the gender pay gap at the Corporation.

One female sports broadcaster expressed the frustrations of trying to achieve fair renumeration as a freelancer. She said: “I have worked for the BBC for almost 30 years, both staff and freelance. I present major sports coverage on national radio. In 2017 my contract was worth £19,000 for 50 days, reporting and presenting. This is an average day rate of £380. When I present one of the flagship radio sports programmes I am paid £500. I have been told the male presenter is paid £1,200.

“Since raising the issue of equal pay I have been offered £650 which is still a long way short of equal pay. What you are worth is solely at the whim of management who essentially in sport are always men. I'm at the top of my game, knowledgeable and with three decades of experience, yet I'm scratching around to earn a living.”

FREELANCE PAY IMPROVEMENTS

However, research released on Equal Pay Day in 2017 suggests the gender pay gap for UK freelancers and self-employed is narrowing rapidly. According to data collated by online services platform Bidvine, the last 12 months saw the gender pay gap to just an average of 1.9%. In sectors like photography, music teaching and language tuition, women competing for freelance and self-employed opportunities earned more than men, and won more jobs.

Meanwhile, in the area of wedding photography, a gender pay gap of 4.5% in favour of women existed. Self-employed female wedding photographers earned £680 per wedding on average, whereas male photographers earned just £650. The study showed the music teaching industry as the only self-employed job category with a completely non-existent gender pay gap. Both male and female self-employed music teachers earnt £28 per hour on average in the last year.

The Key Issues

Although many of the underlying causes of the salaried worker gender pay gap also apply to self-employment, there are other factors at play that are harder to measure.

FREELANCE GENDER PAY GAP CAUSES