A striking generational divide has emerged over equal pay, with 34% of under-35s saying it is reasonable to pay a man more than a woman for the same or similar role, compared with just 14% of over-35s, according to new Fair Pay UK research.
Nearly one in five UK adults (19.5%) believes it can be “reasonable” to pay a man more than a woman for the same or a similar role, new research has revealed. But among younger adults, that figure rises sharply. More than one in three under-35s (34%) said such a pay difference could be reasonable, compared with just 14% of people aged over 35 – less than half the rate among younger respondents.
The findings, based on a survey of 2,000 Britons commissioned by Fair Pay UK, expose a surprising generational divide in attitudes towards gender and pay decades after equal pay protections were introduced. They also raise a wider question: why are younger adults, who are often assumed to hold more progressive workplace attitudes, substantially more accepting of different pay for men and women?
The survey itself does not establish what is driving the age difference. But the findings suggest progress towards pay equality cannot be measured through legislation or corporate policies alone; attitudes towards the value of women’s work continue to matter too.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EARNINGS
According to Fair Pay UK, 19.5% of UK adults surveyed said it was reasonable for a man to be paid more than a woman for the same or a similar role. Among under-35s, the figure increased to 34%. Among those aged over 35, it fell to 14%.
Respondents also identified several circumstances in which they believed higher pay for a man could be justified. Almost one in five (18%) cited a man working more unsociable hours. The same proportion – 18% – pointed to a man’s role involving more physical work. And nearly one in six believed it could be reasonable for a woman to receive lower pay because “she works part-time”.
The findings come amid continuing evidence that gender differences in earnings remain deeply embedded in the workplace. Fair Play Talks recently reported that women are effectively working for free until late February because of the UK’s persistent gender pay gap. Other research has warned that gender pay inequality could cost women millions over the course of their careers, as differences in salary, bonuses, pensions and investment compound over time.
YOUNG WOMEN FACING SIGNIFICANT INEQUALITY
The generational findings are particularly striking given existing evidence about the workplace experiences of younger women themselves. Research previously covered by Fair Play Talks exposed significant disparities in pay, working conditions and career prospects for young women.
The new findings therefore raise important questions about how younger generations understand equality, the value assigned to different types of work and the circumstances in which they consider different pay acceptable. They should not, however, be interpreted as evidence that younger people as a whole oppose equal pay.
The poll identifies a significant difference between age groups, but does not explain why that difference exists or establish whether attitudes among younger people have become less supportive of equality over time. Without comparable historical polling, it is not possible to conclude that younger attitudes have deteriorated.
EQUAL PAY NOT THE SAME AS THE GENDER PAY GAP
The findings also highlight an important distinction that can easily become blurred in debates about women’s earnings. Equal pay and the gender pay gap are not the same thing. Equal pay concerns whether men and women receive equal contractual pay and conditions when performing equal work.
In Great Britain, equal pay protections are contained within the Equality Act 2010. Equal work can include the same or broadly similar work, work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation process, or different work that is nevertheless considered of equal value in terms of factors such as skills, effort and decision-making.
The gender pay gap, by contrast, measures the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across a workforce or economy. An employer can therefore technically comply with equal pay law while still having a significant gender pay gap — for example, if men disproportionately occupy its highest-paid senior positions.
Both matter. One concerns whether people receive equal reward for equal work. The other can reveal wider structural inequalities in recruitment, progression, occupational segregation and access to senior positions.
PROGRESS CANNOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED
Fair Pay UK represents thousands of hourly-paid supermarket shop-floor workers pursuing equal pay claims against Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. The claims concern allegations that predominantly female shop-floor roles have been undervalued compared with predominantly male distribution and warehouse roles said to involve work of equal value.
“These findings are a stark warning that progress on equal pay cannot be taken for granted. Decades after equal pay protections came into force, it is deeply troubling that younger people are more likely to accept women being paid less than men for work of equal value,” stated Nate Barber, Lead Lawyer at Fair Pay UK and a Partner at Harcus Parker. “I am shocked that in 2026, one in five people think a man should be paid more than a woman for doing the same job, or a job of equal value, and we want to be at the forefront of changing those attitudes.”
The supermarket equal pay claims show “why this fight still matters”, notes Barber. “Some of the UK’s biggest employers are accused of underpaying shop floor workers, in roles traditionally done by women, compared with warehouse workers doing work of equal value. Equal pay is a legal right, not a privilege. We are encouraged by so many supermarket workers joining our legal action – this makes a difference and forces employers to take note. Where employers break the law, they must be held to account. Rights on paper mean little unless people can enforce them.”
The supermarket cases are ongoing claims, so allegations concerning unequal pay have yet to be finally determined in respect of the individual claims concerned.
VALUE PLACED ON WOMEN’S WORK
The debate around equal pay extends beyond whether two people have identical job titles. One of the longstanding challenges is how organisations value different types of work – particularly occupations historically dominated by women. That question sits at the heart of many equal-value cases: whether jobs that look different on the surface nevertheless make comparable demands in areas such as skill, effort, responsibility and decision-making.
The issue also extends beyond gender. Fair Play Talks has previously argued that fair pay matters when addressing Britain’s ethnicity pay gap, while more recent reporting highlighted Britain’s continuing hidden ethnicity pay inequalities. For women from ethnic minority backgrounds, these inequalities can intersect.
Fair Play Talks has also previously explored how ethnicity pay gaps can compound the gender pay gap for women of colour. And transparency gaps are not restricted to gender and ethnicity. Previous research has also found that many organisations fail to report LGBTQ+ pay gaps and representation at senior level. Taken together, the evidence reinforces why pay fairness increasingly needs to be examined through an intersectional lens rather than through gender averages alone.
PAY NEGOTIATIONS AND INEQUALITY
The latest findings also sit within a much longer-running pattern. Previous research has found that most UK jobs still paid men more than women. Meanwhile, women’s ability to challenge their own pay can itself be affected by workplace culture. Research has found that one in five women feared negotiating their pay would damage their career.
That matters because individual negotiation can amplify existing inequalities when employees do not enter the process with the same information, bargaining power or confidence that asking for more will be viewed positively.
PAY TRANSPARENCY CAN HELP EXPOSE INEQUALITY
One response has been to make pay systems more transparent. Fair Play Talks previously reported on the EU’s move towards an “end of pay secrecy” through new pay-transparency rules designed to help close gender pay gaps.
Greater transparency can allow employees and employers to identify unexplained differences that may otherwise remain hidden. It can also shift responsibility away from individual employees having to discover inequalities themselves and towards organisations demonstrating that their pay decisions are fair and defensible. That is significant because perceived unfairness can have direct consequences for retention.
Previous research found that three-quarters of employees would look for another job if they discovered unfair pay gaps or a lack of diversity and inclusion policies. Pay practices can influence external reputation too. Research has suggested that fair wages and fair working conditions are among the factors influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. Fair pay therefore increasingly sits at the intersection of equality, employee trust, retention, reputation and responsible business.
PAY FAIRNESS UNDER GROWING SCRUTINY
Questions about fairness are not confined to differences between genders. They are emerging across the wider debate about how organisations distribute economic reward. Fair Play Talks recently reported how US CEO pay reached $29.4 million as $200 million-plus packages surged, intensifying questions about the relationship between executive rewards, workforce pay and organisational performance.
In the UK, workplace enforcement is also changing, with the launch of the Fair Work Agency aimed at strengthening enforcement against employers that fail to meet workplace obligations. Together, these developments indicate that the broader question of who gets paid what – and why– is moving further up the responsible-business agenda.
WHY ARE YOUNGER PEOPLE MORE ACCEPTING OF DIFFERENT PAY?
Perhaps the most intriguing question raised by the Fair Pay UK survey remains unanswered. Why are 34% of under-35s prepared to describe paying a man more than a woman for the same or similar role as reasonable, compared with only 14% of older adults?
The research establishes the difference but does not determine its cause. Possible explanations should therefore not be assumed from the poll alone. Further research would be needed to understand whether respondents interpreted the question through factors such as hours worked, physical requirements, experience, individual performance or other differences, and whether attitudes differ between younger men and younger women.
It would also be useful to understand whether younger workers clearly distinguish between legitimate differences in pay arising from materially different responsibilities or working arrangements and paying people differently because of sex. For employers, that knowledge gap itself is important.
Equality policies can exist on paper, but they will have limited effect if managers and employees do not understand what fair pay actually means or how apparently neutral decisions can produce unequal outcomes.
WHAT EMPLOYERS SHOULD DO NEXT
The findings provide employers with an opportunity to examine both their pay systems and employees’ understanding of workplace equality. Organisations should consider:
- Carrying out regular equal pay audits to identify unexplained differences between comparable roles.
- Reviewing how jobs are valued, particularly where predominantly male and female workforces sit in different functions.
- Examining starting salaries, where different negotiation outcomes can create inequalities that compound through future percentage-based increases.
- Monitoring part-time pay and progression, ensuring flexible working does not become a proxy for lower value or reduced career opportunity.
- Applying premiums consistently for unsociable hours, physical demands, specialist skills or additional responsibilities.
- Reviewing bonuses, pensions and other rewards, rather than looking only at base salary.
- Publishing clear salary ranges and progression criteria wherever possible.
- Training managers on equal pay, including the difference between equal pay and the gender pay gap.
- Analysing pay data intersectionally, including gender alongside ethnicity and other demographic characteristics where lawful and appropriate.
- Providing safe routes to question pay decisions without employees fearing retaliation or damage to their careers.
Employers should also scrutinise the assumptions behind pay decisions. If predominantly male jobs routinely attract additional value for physical demands, unsociable hours or technical expertise, organisations should ask whether skills associated with traditionally female-dominated work – such as emotional labour, customer management, communication, multitasking or responsibility for vulnerable people – are being assessed with equal rigour.
PAY EQUALITY REQUIRES MORE THAN RIGHTS ON PAPER
More than half a century after equal pay protections were first introduced in Britain, the Fair Pay UK findings suggest the principle of equal reward for equal work cannot simply be assumed to have universal support. The fact that 19.5% of adults – and 34% of under-35s – regard higher pay for men as reasonable in at least the scenario posed by the survey deserves closer examination.
But the wider challenge reaches beyond individual attitudes. It encompasses how jobs are valued, how salaries are set, who feels able to negotiate, how transparent pay decisions are and whether workers have realistic routes to challenge inequalities when they arise.
For responsible employers, the question is therefore not simply whether they comply with equal pay law. It is whether they can demonstrate that people doing work of equal value are valued equally, and explain transparently how and why pay decisions are made.
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