Ryanair’s social media posts for International Women’s Day have been criticised by pay equality activists, who point out that on average, women at the airline are paid 68 per cent less than men.
“The Flight Squad: On their own they’re brilliant. Together they’re unstoppable,” reads Ryanair’s International Women’s Day tweet, with a line-up of 14 women across different roles in the business pictured and named.
Yet, as Twitter collective @PayGapApp points out, women at Ryanair earn 31p for every £1 that men earn, with a gap of 68.6 per cent when comparing median hourly pay.
Using figures from the 2020/2021 Gender Pay Gap Report, @PayGapApp - a Twitter account run by Francesca Lawson and her partner - sub-tweets brands and companies who post gushing IWD posts with the current disparity between their male and female salaries.
According to the same report, female staff at British Airways’ median hourly pay is 37 per cent lower than men’s (63p for women to every £1 for men), while at easyJet, women’s median hourly pay is 17.3 per cent lower than men’s (83p to £1).
The deadline for the 2022 Gender Pay Gap Report has not yet passed.
@PayGapApp’s mantra is “Deeds not words: Stop posting platitudes. Start fixing the problem.”
Their bio promises: “Employers, if you tweet about International Women’s Day, I’ll retweet your gender pay gap.”
Ryanair’s superhero-inspired “Flight Squad” IWD campaign saw its cover images replaced on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as multiple image and video posts featuring a selection of its female employees.
Tui also received the @PayGapApp treatment after calling for its followers to “tag an inspirational woman in the comments”.
“Tui Airways engineer, Rianne, is just one of the incredible women at Tui, striving to help #BreakTheBias this International Women’s Day. Let’s continue to champion women’s achievements,” read the travel giant’s post.
The @PayGapApp account retweeted this statement, clarifying that at Tui, women’s median hourly pay is 41.7 per cent lower than men’s.
Ms Lawson started @PayGapApp in time for International Women’s Day last year. A freelance marketing professional, she had grown increasingly frustrated at the “glossy” social media campaigns that pop up once a year on 8 March, often obscuring glaring gender inequality issues within the companies that post them.
“It’s the same with Black History Month and Pride - it’s all just words. I have always felt slightly uncomfortable about these messages,” she told The Independent.
She and her partner began searching for IWD hashtags and companies listed on the Gender Pay Gap Service, in order to point out the hypocrisy of such marketing posts.
“The Ryanair figure is the biggest we’ve shared so far this year, but what’s been another shocking story for me is schools and education institutions with really big gaps - despite having large numbers of female employees.”
The gulf in gender pay at airlines is usually down to the fact that male pilots far outnumber female pilots, and are usually much higher paid than other airline employees. According to Statista, only 4.7 per cent of UK pilots are female.
This is typical, says Ms Lawson, with many companies employing mostly men in the highest-paid quartile of jobs and more women lower down in the organisation.
“What I want to see is organisations committing to gender equality throughout the year, not just putting one pretty shot of their female employees out on their social channels,” she says.
“That starts all the way back in education - what pathways women and men end up going down, and what we can do to ensure that a wide range of people are going into a wide range of professions.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Ryanair is an equal pay employer, and we are proud of the thousands of professional women and men alike who work hard to deliver our renowned service and Europe’s lowest fares to our two million weekly customers.
“Over 90% of our people across our network are covered by Collective Labour Agreements, which provide for the same pay for the same job regardless of gender. Due to the majority of our UK pilots being male, the average hourly pay rate for male employees is 67.83% higher than that for female employees, despite being paid identically.
“As a whole, the airline industry has traditionally experienced a lack of female pilots and male cabin crew applicants, however, recent increases in female applications for cadet positions have shown great promise with a 7.5% rise in female applications in the last financial year. Ryanair is committed to building on the number of female employees in management and leadership positions.”
A Tui UK spokesperson said: “TUI strives to be a diverse and inclusive business and gender pay is a broad and complex area. Historic attitudes towards specific roles such as pilots and engineers have resulted in a lack of female representation in these areas.
“We remain committed to raising awareness on all aspects of diversity and inclusion, as well as effecting change in our own business. As just one example, over the last two years 40% of our Training Pilot roles have been filled by female pilots to create role models for aspiring future female pilots and help break down gender stereotypes.”
