On the a-gender: Pay gaps in medtech

There’s been a lot of press in the UK of late about gender pay gaps – and rightly so. With corporations such as the BBC being hauled over the coals for the discrepancy in male and female wages, it has become a hot topic for the media and one which doesn’t look like it’s going to disappear any time soon.

A quick delve into recent news stories on this topic and it’s all too clear that the BBC isn’t the only establishment short-changing women. According to the FT, PwC was found to be paying its female staff 14 % less than it male members and in a survey carried out by Glassdoor, the pay gap between the sexes in the UK is around 5.5%. In the US Glassdoor reported that the biggest discrepancy in pay can be found in the programming sector.

It’s disappointing reading. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that companies should play fair and that you’d think the bigger ones would lead the way.

It’s hard not to feel disheartened. Taking a look at women in the medtech sector in general, and the way they are represented at board level, the sinking feeling deepens. In search of statistics on women rising to the top of medical technology companies, the findings were pretty grim, although I guess not wholly surprising given the reluctance many businesses have in promoting women to key top-level roles.

In 2011 Forbes reported on a survey by Pepperdine University that found that women in top positions were beating industry averages for productivity and profitability. The article also highlighted key attributes that women bring to the workplace including expertise in finding opportunities, ability to network, a gift for cultivating relationships and a tendency towards  giving along with having a social conscience. Despite this, the Guardian headline from March 2015, says it all – ‘Fewer women leading FTSE firms than men called John’…

Two years on and the picture isn’t looking much rosier. According to The Pipeline’s annual Women Count report there has been no progress in the last year where the number of women on executive committees is concerned.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom. Looking at the rise of the femtech sector  - medical devices and digital health technology for female healthcare – there is a significant number of women behind these businesses. It’s a growing and highly profitable market that is being highlighted as holding significant opportunity for those involved. Hopefully, thanks to the numbers of start-ups headed up by women, we’ll start to see a change in attitudes towards women and a rise in the numbers of females involved in board level business decisions. Let’s hope their pay also starts to match their positions…