So I was speaking to a Recruiter recently, I think his official title was something like Talent Acquisition Manager. They sent us a report about our company's gender pay distribution and I had some questions.

Why are two sales managers in the same location, London, getting paid 8k differently? He replies that we hired them within 18 months of each other, when we made the offer to the female she accepted first time without any negotiations. We made the same offer to the male recruit and we went back and forth 4 times until finally he was happy with the offer and the bonus.

He said, one of the biggest problems for these women is they fail to negotiate, they want it handed on a plate. Men are prepared to take the bull by the horns and ask for more. If you don't try you won't get. Any company would be happy paying ANYONE less, regardless of age, race or gender.