Over the past few years IR Magazine has identified a gender gap in the salary and career experiences of IR professionals. IR Magazine’s latest report goes deeper into the issue by examining the circumstances under which women and men are treated differently – and, indeed, equally – in their pay and seniority.
The report does this by investigating three factors: an IR professional’s previous role, the additional responsibilities in his or her current role and the focus of his or her job satisfaction. It shows a number of circumstantial factors that have led to the overall gender disparity we currently see in IR.
The report is based on responses from more than 900 IR professionals and follows on from the findings of the IR Magazine Global IR Salary & Careers Report 2018.
Key findings
- Men and women from a capital markets background are treated equally in their IR careers, having the best pay and career development in IR.
- Men who previously worked in corporate finance have better salary and career experiences than women from the same background.
- Men with communications or PR responsibilities have the most depressed salary and career, and most closely match the experiences of women with the same responsibilities.
- There is a clear difference between the experience of men and women who have IR as their sole focus, with men much more likely to be IR heads and to be better paid than women.
- Men are more internally focused for their job satisfaction and prioritize job function over resources.
- Female IR heads and IR officers are equally likely to be internally or externally focused in their job satisfaction.
- There is a substantial difference between the experiences of men who have an internal job satisfaction focus and those who have an external focus.
