Gender Pay Gap Analysis: Another Step In The Right Direction?
- axisaberdeen
- 2 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Seven years on from the UK government’s introduction of mandatory reporting of gender pay gap data for companies with more than 250 employees analysis shows that measuring the data is continuing to have an overall positive impact with a further improvement of 0.5% in the UK average reported year on year.
Companies are required to report various data, but the most commonly quoted and what we’ll refer to in this analysis is the gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings for all employees. Following AXIS Network's deep dive last year on how the reporting has evolved since its inception, this year we’ll focus on the year-on-year changes.
As ever, it’s important to note that the gender pay gap is frequently confused with equal pay - the gender pay gap is not a comparison of like-for-like roles but rather shows the difference between the average or median pay of women and men across organisations. In this way, it is not the same as equal pay, which ensures the right to equal pay for the same jobs between women and men as legislated through the Equal Pay Act 1970.
Our analysis covers a population of 36 energy companies spanning both E&P and supply chain. There are currently no known instances of financial penalties from not reporting and our analysis shows that non-compliance in the sector is low, indicating that most companies prioritise the gathering and reporting of data.
The data shows the average gender pay gap within the population of 15 operator companies analysed has decreased from 20.2% in the 2024 reporting to 17.9% per the 2025 submission, a decrease of 2.3%. Ten out of the fifteen operators reviewed have decreased their gender pay gaps since last year, whilst thirteen have decreased over the past five years. The greatest single improvement in the year is seen by Apache North Sea Limited which has decreased from 36% to 12%, an improvement of 24%. Thirteen of the companies within this population are signed up to the AXIS Pledge to deliver positive change on the gender pay gap and the results of this commitment are indeed reflected in the data.
Like last year, the data within the supply chain population of 21 companies is less consistent, showing an overall average decrease of only 1.2% year-on-year. Although this is only a modest reduction overall, there are some significant movements by individual companies however only eleven companies within this group have decreased their gender pay gaps. The biggest increase within the group was Weatherford which has widened to 24.4%, an increase of 6.5%. The biggest improvement goes to AXIS Network Pledge member Expro, which has decreased by 9.8%, to 25.5%. Again, fourteen of the 21 companies within this population are signed up to the AXIS Pledge, a lower proportion than within the operator group but again the data does imply there’s a correlation between this commitment and the improvements observed.
As with all statistics, gender pay gap data also has drawbacks and the potential to mislead. It’s directly related to distribution of women across an organisation in terms of pay quartiles. A company with 5% women overall, but completely evenly distributed - perhaps as low as just one woman in each quartile - will have a gender pay gap of 0%. This would be misleading in the sense that this company has employed very few women in totality - employing fewer women altogether in the workforce being the antithesis of what this initiative is designed for.
The pay quartile information helps to demonstrate some of the limitations of the gender pay gap data. Consistent with AXIS’s analysis last year, CNOOC is one of the operators at the lower end of the range when looking at the median data, which seems positive, however the pay quartiles show it to be one of the poorest performers in distribution of women within the upper and upper middle quartiles. There is some correlation however, and we can see Equinor and Spirit Energy with both the lowest median gaps and highest representation of women in upper quartiles, and at the other end of the table, Perenco with the joint highest median gap and lowest proportion of women in the upper quartile. This essentially tells us the high median gap is driven by the majority of women working in lower paid roles within these organisations.
It's pleasing to see that progress continues to be made, albeit at a frustratingly slow pace given the new wave of DEI backlash and resulting deprioritisation seen across various countries and sectors. The UK however remains committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is a commitment to achieving gender equality by 2030. So, what can organisations do with their data to accelerate progress? They must:
Act on their data: Gathering it alone will not drive change.
Demonstrate their commitment: Communicate their data effectively and transparently to all levels of the organisation.
Build an effective strategy: Ensure gender equity is built into an effective strategy to close the gender pay gap within their organisations. AXIS Network have developed Vision 2030, a strategy to support companies to a fully inclusive industry and the success that would drive.
Support from AXIS is available through becoming a Pledge Signatory. Vision 2030 also shares what industry representatives think gender equity looks like for them and what they think we need to do to get there. This is a period of immense change in our industry but its also one of great opportunity. Gender pay gap data is imperfect but still a powerful tool in introducing change at a time where gender equity is critical to a successful DEI industry wide strategy. Diverse, high performing teams are key to Net Zero and a long-term sustainable industry. We have the data; we must use it.
