The gender pay gap exists all the way down the age scale to girls as young as eight, according to a study of pocket money and earnings for the nation’s youngsters.
Based on annual pocket money receipts, including payments for chores, girls of eight get an average of £265 a year – £5.10 a week – which is £14 less than boys.
This same disparity can be seen all the way through to those aged 15 with the biggest gender pocket money gap occurring at 11 – with £371 a year for girls compared with £404 for boys.
The figures, which show an average gap of 5 per cent, are based on a sample size of 75,000 youngsters aged six to 18 and combined with evidence collected by experts at University College London’s Consumer Data Research Centre.
And they are expected to spark some heated debates over the nation’s breakfast tables as young girls insist on greater pocket money parity with their brothers.
The research was sponsored by Gohenry, which is the prepaid pocket money card and app for six to 18-year-olds, and designed to measure the income and shopping habits of Generation Z – those born after 1998.
Chief executive and co-founder of Gohenry, Louise Hill, said: ‘The key thing with this generation is to make sure they’re learning to manage their money from an early age so that when they go out into the world they’ve got the money skills they need to navigate it successfully.’
