An end to the male role as breadwinner? The 20-something women who earn more than men

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Women’s average hourly pay is now just over £10 an hour, compared with just under £10 an hour for men

By Lynn Davidson
Updated: 04:06 EST, 3 October 2011

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More per hour: Young women in their 20s now earn more on average than men of the same age

The traditional role of men as the main breadwinner could soon be a thing of the past, it has been claimed.

Young women aged between 22 and 29 are now being paid more on average per hour than their male counterparts.

Mary Curnock Cook, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admission Service, said the effect could be a result of higher numbers of better-qualified women coming into the work place.

She believes it could mean a role reversal, with more women going out to work while their partners stay at home, to take advantage of their higher earning potential.

She said: ‘To me this is a particularly interesting point because if in their mid-twenties women are earning more than men, this opens the possibility that we could see a tipping point at which it becomes more the norm for women – as the higher earners in a family – to return to full-time work, leaving their menfolk to play the part of main carer for children in the family.

‘That could have a profound effect on the representation of women in senior roles and their pay rates across the spectrum.’

Women’s average hourly pay is now just over £10 an hour, compared with just under £10 an hour for men.

Role reversal: Higher pay rates for women could lead to an end to the tradition of male breadwinners

MINIMUM WAGE 'KEEPS YOUTHS OUT OF WORK'

The minimum wage is causing high youth unemployment by making low-paid jobs too expensive, government advisers say.

The increased cost of wages for businesses is pricing inexperienced youngsters looking for their first jobs out of the market, according to research by the Government’s Low Pay Commission.

Tim Butcher, the group’s chief economist said the minimum wage – which rose on Saturday – was partly to blame for high youth unemployment.

The impact of the economic slump on businesses has also played a major part, he added.

The warning is the first of its kind since the set wage – which rose on Saturday from £5.93 to £6.08 per hour for workers over 21 – was introduced in 1999.

The British Chambers of Commerce has called for it to be frozen for young workers and even reduced if bosses agree.

Adam Marshall, director of policy at the BCC, said: ‘The concern is the current rate is discouraging some employers from taking on young people and giving them a chance to get into the workplace.’

Recent figures, which contrast sharply with similar research from 1997 that showed the opposite trend, reveal the gap between men and women’s hourly pay is also closing among 18 to 21-year-olds and 30 to 39-year-olds.

It is only among older workers, 40 to 49-year-olds, that men remain significantly ahead of women, earning just over £14 per hour on average while women earn just £12.

Mrs Curnock Cook, who was delivering the Elizabeth Johnson memorial lecture at the Institute of Physics, added: ‘I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’ve come and solved the gender gap in pay rates.’

She said a number of factors could affect future earnings of men and women, but the figures did show it could make sense in some households for the woman to go back to work after childbirth and for the man to take on the caring role.

Recent research found women bosses in their 20s were now paid more than men doing the same jobs. The survey from the Chartered Management Institute found their average salary was £21,969 a year, £600 more than a man could expect at the same level.

But the report said across all age groups women executives were still paid 25 per cent less than men.

The findings were based on a survey of 34,000 managers, and backed up evidence from official statistics that the traditional gender pay gap has gone into reverse among the young.

The closing of the gender pay gap follows more than a decade of greater educational achievement by girls than boys and a view among some employers that they are more ambitious and efficient.

The institute also found salaries for women went up by 2.4 per cent in the year to February, compared with 2.1 per cent for men.

The £21,969 salary of a junior female executive - typically in food retail or the Health Service - compares with £21,367 for a male counterpart.