The self-employed gender pay gap and how it can be bridged

The self-employed gender pay gap and how it can be bridged

Addressing issues around the gender pay gap and removing the well-documented ‘motherhood penalty’ have become much-publicised issues within the employment world.

Reducing the discrepancy between men and women’s pay would not only bolster fairness and equality, but increase levels of financial security for women and create wider economic benefits as higher wages help unlock growth.

It’s very much a live issue, with progress having been made but still much to do.

But what about the world of the self-employed, where people can set their own rates. Surely the gender pay gap disappears under such circumstances?

Wrong. Even in the freelance world, women generally earn significantly less than their male counterparts.

But why? And what can do done to address the issue.

The facts – how self-employed women earn less and worry more than men:

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show the overall gender pay gap in the UK in 2024 was 6.9%.

Data for and commentary on those who are self-employed women is harder to come by, but what is available shows a clear disparity in pay between women and their male counterparts.

Industry-specific statistics

While there are a lack of studies covering self-employment as a whole, some insights are available from within specific industries.

In 2024/25, research from leading construction industry membership body, Build UK , highlighted a series of disparities between male and female members.

• Analysis of the pay of Build UK members showed female contractors were paid on average 79p for every £1 men were paid (median hourly pay).
• The mean hourly pay for those women was 20.8% lower than for men.
• Just 13.4% of female contractors featured in the highest pay quartile of all members of Build UK.
  
  

Furthermore, a study by the Bar Council, published last year and based on earnings data from 2023, found junior women barristers were earning on average 77% less than their male counterparts.

Self-employed female silks (senior lawyers appointed to the King’s Counsel), meanwhile, earnt an average of 67% less than male colleagues.

Parliamentary study

A report from the House of Commons Library, a research and information service based in the UK Parliament, highlighted that “most of the gender pay gaps can be traced to parenthood, or ‘child penalties’.”.

Published in February this year, the study quoted Institute for Fiscal Studies research that showed how “extra years of experience make almost no difference to a woman’s wages if she works part time”.

Furthermore, it stated that despite a Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring survey in 2023 showing that 10% of working-age women in the UK economy were early-stage entrepreneurs, compared to around 12% of men, the number of women-led start-ups receiving finance was lower than those businesses led by all-male, or both and female, founders.

 

Self-employment experts

Perhaps the largest study into the disparity in pay between self-employed men and women came from IPSE – The Self-Employment Association.

Although it dates back to 2020, the report is often quoted in more recent discussion of the topic.

IPSE’s research revealed self-employed men charge an average of 43% more for their work than self-employed women.

The ‘Women in Self-Employment’ research also showed:

• Half (49%) of self-employed women worry about their finances all or most of the time, compared to 37% of men
• A quarter of female freelancers suffer from loneliness (16% for men)
• Only a third (33%) of self-employed mothers claimed Maternity Allowance for the full 39 weeks, with 30% not claiming it at all

IPSE found many women went into self-employment to gain greater control over their working hours (63%), be able to choose where they can work (56%) and to find a better work-life balance (55%). 

While these reasons corresponded with those given by men for going into self-employment, the study found women became more disillusioned with their new roles at a higher rate than their male counterparts.

It found almost half of freelance women (46%) believed self-employment has been more challenging than they expected. For men, that figure was 41%.

When it comes to pay, the 43% gap between self-employed men and women is significantly higher than the often highlighted 17% gap between male and female employees.

According to IPSE, the disparity is likely to be driven not by employers paying less, but because of self-employed women undervaluing their services and charging less.

Why do self-employed women charge less than men?:

There are several factors in play when answering the question as to why self-employed women are underselling their work, including:

• Systemic bias: The impact of unconscious bias, both on behalf of clients and even the self-employed workers themselves, is likely significant. Male freelancers are seen as inherently more capable or experienced, and therefore worthy of higher pay levels.
• Cultural conditioning: Internalised beliefs and norms can lead to women believing their work is worth less than that of male counterparts. Female freelancers who have earned lower wages than men when doing full-time roles may be conditioned to transpose that disparity into the self-employed world.
• Self-confidence: A lack of self-confidence on the part of self-employed women, often predicated by the above factors, leads them to undervalue their expertise. Women are more likely to avoid awkward negotiations over price or to underestimate their value because of a fear of being seen as inadequate.
• Male dominated industries: Men often dominate higher paying industries such as tech, law and engineering. Furthermore, women working in such areas are more likely to suffer from perceptions that their services aren’t as good, and therefore valuable, as those of self-employed men in those fields.
  

The wider story – female freelancers are on the rise:

While the statistics around pay for self-employed women paint an uncomfortable picture, there are signs the influence of women in the self-employed sector is growing.

There are also increased levels of advocacy on behalf of those women – not least from IPSE itself.

Data from the ONS shows there has been an increase of almost 80% in the number of self-employed women in the UK since 2000, with the figure jumping from just under 900,000 at the turn of the century to around 1.6m in the first quarter of this year. 

However, the number of self-employed women is still low compared to that for men, which stands at more than 2.8m and was even higher – at 3.5m – as recently as 2020. 

The fall in the levels of self-employment among men has been blamed on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic creating economic volatility in traditionally male-orientated sectors such as construction. 

Nevertheless, self-employed women remain the minority. And earlier this year, IPSE’s Senior Policy and Communications Adviser, Fred Hicks, noted that the increase in the number of self-employed women was slowing as the UK economy continued to struggle.

In an article on the organisation’s website , he wrote: “We should be celebrating what self-employment has made possible for these individuals (women) and the clients they work with, bringing more diverse talent, expertise and perspectives to projects up and down the country. 

“But the sector has been let down by a yawning lack of supportive policymaking, of the kind that other sectors are deemed worthy of almost unquestioningly.”

Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see these issues being recognised and spoken about openly. The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging it exists. What happens next is people start to talk about solutions.

What can be done to close the freelance pay gap?

The good news is self-employed women have agency to affect the rate of pay they get. Unlike in the world of employed, they are not reliant on managers, chief executives or shareholders to implement fair pay policies.

Addressing the problem starts with female freelancers changing how they think about their value. Breaking the habit of underselling yourself can be as simple as recognising the truth of mantras such as ‘my skills are valuable,’ ‘I have confidence in my ability,’ and ‘I deserve to be paid fairly’.

On top of this there are practical steps that can be taken, both by individuals and those in authority.

The IPSE research shows only one in ten self-employed women feel supported by the government. Increasing the levels of available training is one answer, while IPSE has laid out a series of recommendations it says should be implemented, namely:

• Better access to training for the self-employed, including making such training tax deductible
• The increase of the New Enterprise Allowance and mentor support to two years, reflecting the time women need support for while establishing their business
• Conducting a review of parental rights and pay for the self-employed to take a fresh approach to how policies and pay can be made more flexible
• Enhance the collection and availability of data on women in self-employment to improve understanding and create practical solutions to support female freelancers