According to the data average pay for female directors at financial services companies stands at £247,100, 66% lower than the average £722,300 paid to male directors.

The prevailing gender pay gap at firms listed on the FTSE 100 and 250 stock indices suggests there has been slow progress in recruiting women to more senior, higher-paid executive positions.

The vast majority (86%) of the female company directors occupy non-executive roles, which tend to be lower paid than executive positions, and involve less day-to-day responsibility for running the business, The Guardian reports. 

The news comes after the final report in the government-backed Hampton-Alexander review into female representation in business revealed that women now hold more than a third of roles in the boardrooms of Britain’s top 350 companies. However, men still dominate the highest levels.

The Fox and Partners research underlines that firms are willing to give non-executive roles to women to improve board diversity, but are not appointing them to higher-paid leadership positions, which exert more influence within the company.

Catriona Watt, partner at Fox and Partners, said: “Boards need to be open to challenging themselves by asking honest questions about the barriers in their organisation that might prevent women reaching the very top.

“To see long-term change, firms must be committed to taking steps that will lead to more women progressing through the ranks, getting into senior executive positions and closing the pay gap.”