Engineering’s gender salary gap closes but imbalance persists

Whilst the latest figures from Engineering UK point to an encouraging closing of the gender gap, The Engineer’s 2022 salary survey demonstrates that in some areas industry’s troubling gender gap is proving more resistant to action. Indeed, while Engineering UK’s figures point to a marked increase in the percentage of women working in engineering (from 10.5 per cent in 2010 to 16.5 per cent in 2021) just 6.3 per cent of respondents to The Engineer’s research (which was completed by almost 800 UK engineers) are female.

One key driver behind The Engineer’s more troubling sample appears to be the extremely low percentage of female respondents (just 4 per cent) from the survey’s most heavily represented sector: manufacturing. Other sectors, in particular civil and structural engineering and defence and security performed more favourably; with female respondents accounting for 9 and 12 per cent respectively.

In better news, the average salary for female respondents to this year’s has risen from £53,294 in 2021 to £55,004. This compares to an average salary among male engineers of £58,286 and represents a further tightening in the gender salary gap from an average of £5,000 to just over £3,000 in 2022.

As our in depth report on this year’s survey explores, the size of this gap shows some interesting variations across the seniority levels with female engineers at junior / grad level and earning on average around £2,000 more per year than their male colleagues, whilst female respondents at senior engineer / manager level are actually earning on average £10k more than their male colleagues.

At director level or above, average male salaries were considerably higher (£103,986 for men compared to £57, 833 for women). In terms of benefits, a far greater proportion of male respondents told us that they benefit from a bonus scheme (51 per cent compared to 41 per cent for women).

Conversely, a far greater proportion of female respondents (59 per cent compared to 46 per cent for men) enjoy flexible working arrangements. Despite these differences, levels of job satisfaction show little gender based variation with both male and female respondents telling us that they are generally happy in their jobs (53 per cent for men, 57 per cent for women).

Meanwhile, in line with earlier surveys, female respondents appear generally more positive about their employers’ efforts to encourage a work life balance (48 cent women, compared to 38 per cent of male respondents).