Bain, a consulting firm that heavily promotes itself as being an employer of choice for women, has a gender pay gap of 31 per cent, higher than the industry gap of 26 per cent and the national gap of 22 per cent.

The firm said the “unsatisfactory” gap between the median total pay of its men and women operatives was “primarily driven by having fewer women in senior roles”. Women make up just 31 per cent of Bain’s highest earning advisers, 45 per cent of its second-highest earning ranks and 71 per cent of its bottom quartile of earnings.