Jockey Club Racecourses data shows gender pay gap of just three per cent

Jockey Club Racecourses has revealed a mean gender pay gap of just three per cent, by far the lowest of any sporting body to have released figures so far.

The Football Association has a pay gap of 23 per cent, while the Lawn Tennis Association has one of 31 per cent. The BHA has yet to release its figures.

Average, mean, media and mode explained

British companies with 250 or more employees are now required by law to reveal their gender pay gap data, with the deadline for release set at March 30, 2018 for public bodies and April 4, 2018 for companies.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the gap between what the average UK male and female worker earns stands at 17.4 per cent.

The JCR figures include executives and office workers in fields such as marketing and human resources, as well as those engaged in racecourse roles such as groundsmen.

While the average salary was three per cent higher for male employees, the median salary for women was 23 per cent higher than for men, attributed to there being "significantly more men being employed in manual, non-office based roles within the business, which fall within the lower quartile salary ranges".

JCR chief executive Paul Fisher added: "The slight difference in mean hourly pay is accounted for by there being more males than females at this current time in the most senior executive management positions at Jockey Club Racecourses."

Of 15 directors at JCR, only two are women.