Wigan Council salaries reveal they do 'believe in her'

In the week marking the centenary of the Suffragettes’ winning the vote for some women, data has been released showing the breakdown of salaries for men and women working for the borough’s local authority.

The figures, published under the Freedom of Information Act, show 67.4 per cent of staff earning more than £45,000 last year were women.

This was made up of 89 women and 43 men and was an increase from women making up 63.8 per cent of the higher earners in the previous financial year.

Of the top earners - those receiving a salary of more than £85,000 - 44.4 per cent were women.

This was made up of five men and four women each year.

And of course the top earner at the town hall is its female chief executive Donna Hall. She today highlighted the efforts made to achieve gender parity.

She said: “We promote and recruit based on hard work, enthusiasm, behaviours and sheer talent.

“I’m proud we have male and female champions for gender equality and we’ve started a social movement here in the North.

“We are also proud of our #BelieveInHer campaign which aims to inspire females of all ages to keep pushing for equality and to not be ashamed of their ambition or talent.

“We need to keep pushing for equality - holding back women holds back everyone.”

The #BelieveInHer campaign aims to raise awareness of gender inequality and encourage people to take action, highlight role models in the community and inspire schools, colleges and other organisations to help address issues of sexism.

It has been backed by residents and well-known faces including Olympic athlete Jenny Meadows, actor Sarah Jayne Dunn and former Wigan Warriors player Matty Smith.

The council, which employs 4,200 staff, has recently been shortlisted in the Northern Power Women’s Awards for the large organisation category.