A study published Monday revealed that women on the boards of major UK companies earn 73 percent less than men, a much higher difference than the rest of the labor market.

A group manager on the London Stock Exchange's FTSE-100 Index earns an average of £237,000 a year, according to the New Street Consulting Group.

This is significantly less than the 875,900 pounds her male counterparts charge.

The wage differential is not commensurate with that of the UK labor market.

Taking into account all employees, men earn an average of 15.5 percent more than women, according to 2020 figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The huge difference in salaries on boards of directors is explained by the fact that women hold a very limited number of executive positions, in contrast to men, who often hold the position of chief executive officer or chief financial officer.

Claire Carter, director of a consulting firm, warns that "women are not only being paid less but are also denied higher-paying positions."

Even when women hold executive positions, the pay differential is still huge. In this case, they charge the equivalent of 1.5 million pounds, compared to 2.5 million pounds for male officials.

The study acknowledges that progress has been made in the representation of women on boards of directors, but "focusing solely on percentages of the number of directors is not enough when the goal is equality," says Carter.

In February the Hampton-Alexander study, recommended by the British government since 2016, indicated that the FTSE-100, 250 and 350 indices had met the target of one-third of women in board positions by the end of 2020.

Parity between women and men on the boards of major UK companies is not expected until 2036 due to delays caused by the pandemic, the consultancy The Pipeline estimated in July.

The company counted only 15 female general managers within the FTSE-350, or five percent of the total, such as Alison Rose (Natwest Bank) or Emma Walmsley (GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals).