The gender pay gap at US-based consulting and law firms significantly outstrips those of their locally run competitors, as a Trump executive order demanding renunciation of diversity goals pushes some outfits further from initiatives aimed at reducing pay disparities.

Global strategy consulting firms Bain, BCG and McKinsey recorded average total remuneration gender pay gaps of between 35 per cent to 45 per cent. They blamed the outsized results on their corporate structures, and a greater proportion of men in high-paying positions, but said the results were nevertheless “unsatisfactory”.