Nearly half of American men think gender pay gap is ‘made up to serve a political purpose’

One quarter described it as 'fake news'

The gender pay gap could widen (Getty/iStock)

The gender pay gap is the average difference between what men and women earn at a company. It is indicative of a systemic problem that in some cases means more men are employed in leadership roles than women and in others, that women are paid less than men for doing the same amount of work.

And yet, new research reveals that many people think the gender pay gap does not exist.

According to an online poll of 8,566 American adults published by TIME, 46 per cent of men think the pay gap “is made up to serve a political purpose” as opposed to being a “legitimate issue”.

Meanwhile, a quarter of those aged between 18 to 34 described the media’s coverage of the gender pay gap as “fake news” when given this as an option in a multiple choice question in the poll.

The survey found that out of all those who took part, men and younger Americans were more likely to deny the gender pay gap.

The poll also examined what people thought the reasons behind a gender pay gap might be. Women mostly cited unconscious bias and sexism whereas men were more likely to say that women worked in careers that didn’t pay as highly and worked fewer hours.

Additionally, almost six in 10 men (58 per cent) said they thought obstacles for women in the workplace had largely been eradicated.

In the US, reports from the Census Bureau claim that women make an average of 81 cents for every dollar a man makes, with this pay gap widening for women of colour.

Across the pond, figures released by the BBC in February suggest that in the UK, the gender pay gap is widening, with 74 per cent of the private companies analysed reporting a gap that favours men and just 12 per cent reporting no pay gap at all.

The analysis identified the “worst offenders” in the finance sector as Lloyds Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.