Companies will be asked to include salaries in job adverts under a Government initiative to combat the embedded bias against women created by “ambiguous pay policies and historic pay decisions”.

Announced yesterday to coincide with International Women’s Day, the initiative’s participants will also refrain from asking applicants about their salary history. It is believed this will help close the gender pay gap.

Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, said it is essential “that we keep women at the forefront of the levelling-up agenda as we recover from the pandemic”. Numerous studies have shown that women’s financial security has been hit harder by lockdowns, furlough and job losses than that of men.

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The Minister added that listing a salary range, together with non-disclosure of salary history, provides a firmer footing to negotiate pay on a fairer basis. This is true across all groups but particularly amongst women, 58 per cent of whom said they felt they received a lower salary offer than they would have if the question had not been asked.

Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said salary history questions mean that past pay discrimination follows women and other groups throughout their careers creating “embedded bias” in the recruitment process.

“Evidence from US states which have banned asking about past salary shows that is a simple, evidence-led way to improve pay equality for women, people of colour and disabled people,” she said.