Gender Pay Gap Reduced But Do Indian Women Earn More? 25% Lesser Says Survey World Economic Forum last year showed gender gap between men and women is a persistent concern all over the world.

The figures are out and they aren't looking promising, at least for the women in India.

A survey by one of India's popular recruitment portal suggests women earned 25 per cent lesser than men in 2016 compared to a year earlier.

Monster India's survey reveals men earn a median gross hourly salary of INR 345.80, while for women it is only INR 259.80. While the gender pay gap has narrowed by 2 percentage points from 27.2 per cent in 2015 but the net earning show a large gap.

The survey was categorised under the parameters of workplace, growth and safety and captured responses Monster India's database of over 2,000 working women.

The Monster Salary Index on gender states sector-wise the average gender pay gap in the manufacturing sector stood at 29.9 per cent - the highest in India. The second spot was bagged by the IT sector where gender pay gap stood at 25.8 per cent.

Many notches below the 25 per cent mark was the gender pay gap in the BFSI sector at 21.5 per cent and at 14.7 per cent in Education and Research.

A Press Trust of India report revealed the Monster India survey and quoted Managing Director, APAC & Middle-East of Monster.com Sanjay Modi as saying "In India, the gender pay gap story holds true and the overall gap across India Inc is at 25 per cent. This primarily is a manifestation of the underlying diversity challenges that organisations currently face."

Modi agreed that there was a dire need for tangible initiatives to bridge gender pay gap with removing structural impediments to women's growth providing access to skills training, jobs and decision-making.

This, however, is not an issue concerning only India.

Recently, Equilar, a research firm that focuses on board recruitment, put together a Gender Diversity Index and predicts that the board of directors on the Russell 3000 list -- the 3000 largest companies based in the United States -- will achieve parity, with a membership made up of 50 percent women and 50 percent men, by the fourth quarter of 2055.

A report released by the World Economic Forum last year showed gender gap between men and women is a persistent concern all over the world and we have a long way to go before we reach parity.

"At the current rate of change, and given the widening economic gender gap since last year, it will not be closed for another 170 years," said the WEF Report. That means women and men won't be paid equally all over in the world until 2186, based on the WEF's research.