Female bankers suffer an 11% fall in their base salaries between the ages of 32 and 37, according to new research.
Data from salary benchmarking website Emolument.com finds that, while female bankers tend to earn more than their male peers in terms of base salary and bonus in their late 20s and early 30s, this situation reverses dramatically once they reach child-bearing age and take maternity leave.
Not only do their base salaries tumble, they also see a drop in other benefits, meaning that their total compensation decreases by 15% over a five-year period.
Women continue to be significantly under-represented in the banking sector – especially among the top-tier US banks, where they make up just 10% of analysts.
But while women find it harder to enter US banks, their prospects of progression appear to be greater within them, since women represent 13% of staff at vice president (VP) level, an improvement on European banks, where women constitute just 6% of VPs.
Commenting on the findings, Robert Benson, CEO at Emolument.com, said: “Clearly, the banking industry still has a long way to go when it comes to gender parity. Most concerning are not necessarily salary figures, but rather female/male population ratios from the very early stages of a career in finance.”