The Gender Pay Gap in eCommerce: #PandaPounds 2016

If you've already got your paws on this year's ecommerce Salary Survey and Insights report, you'll know that we've devoted 3 whole pages to the gender pay gap in ecommerce. These pages feature salary survey highlights on the gender make-up of the industry, gender vs. seniority, gender by age bracket and, of course, salary ranges vs. gender. 

In this, the first of our gender pay gap #PandaPounds series, we take a look at 5 key takeaways from our 2016 salary survey results.

Here's what you need to know...

5 facts about the gender pay gap in ecommerce

Fact 1: the gender make-up of the sector remains fairly even 

When it comes to gender make-up, the ecommerce industry seems to be leading the way; this year, 54% of our 2016 repondents were male and 46% were female. This result isn't surprising, with similar findings discovered in 2015 (53% male, 47% female) and 2014 (50% male, 50% female). 

Fact 2: There are now more women entering the ecommerce industry than men

For the second year running, we've noticed that there are more women entering the industry than men. When looking at those in the '25 and under' age group, we find that it consists of just 9% of all male respondents and 23% of all female respondents. 

The majority of our survey respondents (53%) fall within the 26-35 age bracket. When we look at the gender breakdown in this segment, we discover that 50% of all male respondents and 53% of all female respondents are within this age group. As we move up another age bracket, we see more male respondents than female respondents: 34% of all male respondents are between 36-45, compared to 18% of all female respondents. This trend continues as we look at males and females within the 46-55 age group.

So, while the gender make-up of the sector highlighted in fact 1 shows a relatively even split between male and female respondents, the breakdown of eCommerce professionals by age group shows a slightly different story... 

Fact 3: Men still hold more senior level positions than women

When we review the gender vs. seniority graph shown on page 5 of our report, we see that women lead the way when it comes to assistant, executive, senior executive and manager roles. At senior manager level, this trend evens out with males and females coming in at 13% each. From 'head of' to owner roles, males dominate the gender vs. seniority graph. 

Typically, professionals holding such senior positions have years and years of experience in their field; they are often aged 35 and above. So, are these trends directly related to the fact that there are more men in the 36+ age groups? 

Fact 4: Women tend to get paid more than men... until salaries hit £45,000

This fact is backed up by our salary range vs. gender illustration, however, we need to look at the details behind it all... as we know, there are more women than men within the under 25 age group and the majority of females in ecommerce (53%) are within the 26-35 age group. Could this explain why women are leading the way until salaries reach senior managerial level?

One thing to note, however, is that every 1 in 3 women in assistant level roles earn more than £25,000, compared to every 1 in 4 males. Will we see the gender pay gap in eCommerce impacting men more than women in the not too distant future? 

Fact 5: there's an almost even split between men and women at the 26-35 age bracket 

Both male and females within the 26-35 year age bracket make up 53% of all people in the sector. When we compare male to female make-up of this 53%, we see that 54% are female and 50% are male. 

So, there they are: our top 5 facts for the state of the gender pay gap in ecommerce. Get your paws on more industry insights - view our latest #PandaPounds blog posts