by Gita Singham-Willis, Strategic Engagement Director at the consultancy Transform.
Back in 2017, when we were still Cadence Innova (now proudly part of Transform UK), we designed and developed the UK’s gender pay gap (GPG) service. It remains one of the proudest moments of my consulting career. For the first time, organisations were mandated to look at themselves clearly and, as the data came out of the woodwork, it forced a national conversation that was long overdue…
Gita Singham Willis, Strategic Engagement Director at the consultancy Transform; photo courtesy of Transform
As International Women’s Day approaches, I find myself reflecting on how far we’ve come. While I no longer manage the service, I am constantly scanning the horizon to see how the post-pandemic world and the AI explosion will shift the needle.
The landscape of disparity
Recent ONS data shows that while the UK’s overall GPG is declining slowly, sector-specific trends vary significantly. In financial services, we’ve seen a substantial shift; the gap at board level has dropped from 40% to 29% over the last five years. Conversely, in education the gap has actually widened at the teaching level. This tells us that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not sufficient. Action plans must be as nuanced as the sectors they serve.
The public sector continues to lead the way, maintaining a significantly smaller gap than the private sector. However, as we look across the economy, the drivers of these disparities are shifting:
- In high-pay industries like finance, the gap has narrowed primarily because more women have reached senior roles. Yet this progress feels fragile and we are seeing renewed pressure as some organisations begin to pull back from dedicated diversity initiatives.
- For workers under 40, the gap is almost negligible, sitting at just 0.9% for those in their twenties. However, it widens sharply to 9.1% for the 40–49 age bracket, a direct reflection of the disproportionate ‘care penalty’ women face during these pivotal career years.
When we examine why the public sector continues to outperform the private sector, several structural advantages emerge:
- Transparency vs. discretion: Public sector pay is typically tied to transparent ‘banding’ rather than individual negotiation. This naturally suppresses the gap because colleagues at the same grade are paid the same. In contrast, private-sector pay is often more discretionary, and research shows that men are still more likely to negotiate higher starting salaries or out-of-cycle raises.
- Bonus and equity imbalance: In the private sector, the most lucrative bonuses and equity packages still disproportionately favour men. The public sector has countered this trend by diversifying its top tier; by 2024, women made up approximately 50% of the senior civil service.
- The part-time progression: The public sector has successfully built clear promotion pathways for part-time workers. In the private sector, part-time work is still too often stigmatised as ‘low-level’. Consequently, women returning from maternity leave to part-time hours frequently see their career progression and pay growth stall far more significantly than their public-sector counterparts do.
Is AI the new glass ceiling?
As we move through 2026, it is clear that AI’s impact on the gender pay gap is a paradox. While AI offers revolutionary tools to dismantle bias, it also poses a credible risk of hardcoding existing inequalities.
The risk:
- A July 2025 study revealed that men are significantly more likely to receive AI training; 57% of men received more than five hours of training last year, compared to just 45% of women.
- According to the City of London Corporation, ‘mid-career’ women – that is those with at least five years of experience – are being overlooked for digital roles in tech and financial services, sectors where they are already traditionally underrepresented.
- Women are 40% more likely than men to see their roles replaced by AI. This is a structural vulnerability, as women are disproportionately represented in the administrative and clerical roles that are prime targets for full automation.
- AI proficiency is already commanding a premium, with workers seeing pay rises of approximately 6% over those using legacy systems. If women have less access to this technology, they lose vital leverage in salary negotiations, further entrenching the gap.
- Only 22% of AI workers and a staggering 8% of chief technology officers (CTOs) are women. Without diverse voices in the room, we risk building AI tools with inherent gender biases baked into their code.
The opportunity:
- If deployed responsibly, AI could reach broader talent pools and interrupt real-time bias in hiring and promotion decisions, acting as a neutral arbiter for talent.
- AI-driven flexibility through smarter remote work tools and efficient time management can provide the support needed by those with caregiving responsibilities. This would allow more women to remain in higher-paid, full-time roles rather than being forced into the ‘part-time trap’.
- As AI automates routine tasks, human skills such as emotional intelligence, creativity, and coordination will become increasingly valued. Since these roles often see more balanced gender representation, this shift could, if managed correctly, favour women’s earnings.
A call to strategic action
We cannot leave this to chance. To ensure AI helps close the gap rather than entrenching it, we must be proactive.
First, we must ensure that we are training women in AI skills today, not tomorrow. We cannot allow a lack of digital fluency to be the reason a senior woman loses her seat at the table. We need to keep our focus on retaining senior women in roles where they can actively drive the AI agenda alongside their male counterparts.
Our GPG action plans must now evolve to include ‘AI Questions’. What are we doing for the mid-level administrative workers whose roles are being automated? Are we creating pathways for them to pivot? Are we valuing the human skills that AI cannot replicate?
This year’s International Women’s Day theme, #GiveToGain, provides the perfect framework for our response. The philosophy is that when we invest our time, resources and mentorship in uplifting women, the entire economy benefits. To ensure AI is an equaliser rather than a glass ceiling, we must intentionally give women access to AI training, give senior women the platform to drive the digital agenda and give value to the human skills that technology cannot replicate.
Experts warn that without mandatory gender equality action plans, like those required by the Employment Rights Act 2025, we risk undoing a decade of progress. At Transform, we believe that as the world becomes more automated, it must not become less equal.
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