A worker rests in the sun in London's Exchange Square March 13, 2007.Women in some of Britain's leading financial companies receive around 80 percent less in bonus and performance-linked pay than their male colleagues, the country's equality watchdog said on Monday.

Women in some of Britain's leading financial companies receive around 80 percent less in bonus and performance-linked pay than their male colleagues, the country's equality watchdog said on Monday.

A survey of 50 finance firms found that women earned an average of 2,875 pounds ($4,712) a year in performance pay compared to 14,550 pounds for men, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said.

There was also a 39 percent gap between women and men in annual basic pay, rising to 47 percent when bonuses and other additional payments were added.

"The finance sector¹ has one of the highest overall gender² pay gaps in the UK economy," the commission said.

It said women working full-time³ in the finance firms surveyed earned 55 percent less annual gross salary than men, compared to a pay gap of 28 percent for the economy generally.

"The financial sector has the potential to play a central role in Britain's recovery. But it has to address this shocking disparity of rewards," said EHRC Chairman Trevor Phillips.

The sector's age profile could be a factor in holding back women, the commission said.

"An unusually high proportion of workers in the sector fall into the 25-39 age group -- the age at which women tend to have childcare responsibilities."

The British Bankers' Association said big payouts were made to a relatively⁴ small number of people and that part of the gender pay gap in finance was due to lifestyle choices made by women.

"In general, women tend to be attracted to areas such as retail⁵ banking⁶, fund management, insurance and other functions where people skills are at a premium⁷ -- these, traditionally, do not attract the higher bonuses," the BBA said.

"Women also often make different choices when it comes to balancing work and home life. The industry employs proportionately quite young people and this too can have an impact on salaries as it clashes with those years when more women than men take time out to look after children."

英国性别平等监督机构于本周一称，英国几大金融公司的女职员所获得的奖金和绩效收入比男同事少约80%。

英国平等与人权委员会(EHRC)对50家金融公司开展的一项调查发现，女职员的年均绩效收入为2875英镑（合4712美元），而男职员的这一收入则高达14550英镑。

此外，在年基本薪酬方面，男员工比女员工也高出39%，再加上奖金和其它额外收入，这一差距则达到47%。

该委员会称：“在英国，金融行业的整体收入性别差距最大。”

该机构称，在受调查的几家金融公司中，全职女员工的年总收入比男员工低55%，而全国的总体平均差距为28%。”

英国平等与人权委员会主席特里弗•菲利普斯说：“金融行业能在英国经济复苏中扮演核心角色，但它必须解决其惊人的性别收入差距问题。”

该委员会称，在金融领域，年龄对于女性来说是一个不利因素。

报告称：“在金融行业，25岁至39岁的从业者所占比例相当高。而这一年龄段的女性大都有照顾孩子的任务。”

英国银行家协会称，获得高薪的毕竟只是少数人，金融行业的性别收入差距部分是因为女性生活方式的选择。

该协会称：“总体来看，女性倾向于从事小额银行、基金管理、保险以及其它一些需要与人沟通的业务——而这些职位的奖金通常不会太高。”

“而且在平衡工作和家庭生活问题上，女性常常会做出不同的选择。金融业中的年轻人所占比例较高，这也会对薪水产生影响，因为与男性相比，在这一阶段有更多的女性需要抽出时间照顾孩子。”

Vocabulary:

disparity：the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree; difference（差异，不同）

hold back：to restrain or check（阻止，抑制）

at a premium：of exceptional quality or greater value than others of its kind; superior（难得，非常珍贵，需要很大，短缺）

take time out to：暂停下来；抽出工作中的时间