Analyst sues City bosses over pay

A leading City analyst who claimed she was paid less than her male colleagues is suing a City firm for alleged sexual discrimination.

Media analyst Louise Barton, ranked top of her field by Reuters, left her post at Investec Henderson Crosthwaite this year after finding out that two male peers were being paid higher salaries and bonuses.

Ms Barton, 52, from Fulham, claimed bosses refused to raise her salary despite the fact that she made just as much revenue for the company. Next week, she faces her former employees at a London tribunal as she sues them for alleged sexual discrimination, victimisation, unequal pay and constructive dismissal.

Ms Barton was considered one of London's most influential media experts. Having risen swiftly through the ranks during her 11 years at Investec Henderson Crosthwaite, her specialist knowledge was widely deemed to be unrivalled.

She was being paid a six-figure salary but says she discovered two men on her team, Mathew Horsman and Mike Savage, were being paid bigger salaries and bonuses. She said it was the first explicit example of sexual discrimination she had personally experienced during her 20 years in the Square Mile.

Ms Barton said: "I had been paid significantly less than my male colleagues despite contributing at least as much, and in one case more, in terms of revenue to the company."

She added: "There are certain disadvantages for women in the City that can't be ignored. From a recruitment point of view, 40 per cent of graduates are female but at the top end it's a different story.

"There are far more problems for women, especially if they want to have children, as it's very competitive. Generally, if you do the job well, you get paid. But one of the main areas in which women suffer is networking. It can be a disadvantage for women if they are not interested in sitting in a wine bar all evening after work."

Investec Henderson Crosthwaite said it would not comment on any details of the case.

Ms Barton is one of a growing number of women prepared to challenge what they still perceive as male dominance in the City.

The Government, concerned that only two per cent of Britain's top company directors are women, set up an inquiry last week to investigate sexism in the workplace.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt asked Derek Higgs, a leading investment banker, to investigate the absence of women in the boardroom. She told the Commons that the inquiry would examine "the issues he and I are most concerned about [and] the failure of leading companies to appoint from a wide range of people into the boardroom".

Although the number of women in the City has peaked at 124,000 - 45 per cent of the workforce - the road to the top remains a tortuous path for many ambitious women. They earn less money, win smaller bonuses and face the sack for getting pregnant.

A key area of conflict between men and women in the City is motherhood. Last year, the Equal Opportunity Commission received 25 times more calls about pregnancy-related discrimination than about harassment.