Barbie and the Gender Pay Gap –Ken would earn £4m more in his lifetime than Barbie

Isabella Coffey Paralegal at Cole Khan Solicitors discusses how the Barbie film gives us new insight into the starkness of the Gender Pay Gap, and how it operates in practice.

Following the highly acclaimed Barbie Movie, money.co.uk[1] has released data that Ken would earn £4 million more than Barbie in his lifetime across 59 of the roles performed by the female doll.

Barbie has held over 70 professional jobs over the last 6 decades of her lifetime. Some of which include, a fashion model, flight attendant, Computer Engineer and Judge[2].  Ken would have earned significantly more than Barbie, simply due to his sex.

Undeniably Barbie has been a crucial figure in the lives of young children, showing them that you can be whoever you want to be. However, despite the campaigns for equality Barbie has made throughout her lifetime, women are still paid less than men at four out of five employers in Great Britain[3]

Despite the introduction of the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations in 2017, which oblige employers with over 250 employees to report on their gender pay gap statistics, the median gender pay gap in the UK remains largely stagnant and stubbornly wide at 9.4%[4]. This means for every £1 earned by man, on average woman earn 91p.[5]

Money.co.uk analysed over 60 of Barbie’s roles to find out what the average salary and gender pay gap was within each role. The data suggests that Ken would earn a staggering £4 Million more than Barbie in his lifetime. Across all of the 60 roles analysed, only 35% of the occupations Barbie has worked in her lifetime, see females earning more than males. These roles include Film Directors, Yoga Teachers, Aerobics Instructors and Coffee shop workers[6].

The profession with the highest gender pay gap in the UK, is that of a Judge, where the gender pay gap sits at 31.30%. Judge Barbie has the highest salary difference with men, who earn on average £19,470 more than females. Also, within the top 5 occupations where men earn more than women is Doctors, where the gender pay gap is 19.69%. This year it was found that women in finance have been found to earn on average, 22% less than their male colleague and in the education section the pay gap increased by nearly 1%.[7]

These statistics indicate that the UK still has a long way to go in narrowing the gap and ensuring that employers take more action to address their pay inequalities. In order for significant process to be made, employers must go further than just sharing data of their gender pay gaps. The Gender Pay Gap Regulations must be revised to encompass the need for action plans to be created by employers when reporting on their gender pay gap statistics, for progress to be made.

Women who are paid less than their male counterparts for the same job, may have grounds to bring a discrimination claim on the grounds of their sex and for Equal pay under the Equality Act.  In order to bring a successful Equal Pay claim, women need to show that they do equal work to male workers or employees. 

Please contact us for a no obligation call if you are concerned about doing equal value, or like work to the men at work, but you are being paid less.

[1] https://www.money.co.uk/business/barbie-pay-gap-revealed

[2] https://sherryhsieh.github.io/Data-Journalism/Barbie/index.html

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/women-paid-less-than-men-four-out-of-five-employers-uk-gender-pay-gap

[4] (n 3)

[5] What is the gender pay gap where you work? - BBC News

[6] (n 1)

[7] Gender pay gap 2023: How to check your employer - Times Money Mentor (thetimes.co.uk)