Women in executive roles are earning more than men for the first time in at least seven years, according to recruitment agency C&M.

It said last year was the only time women had out-earned their male counterparts since it launched its gender pay gap study in 2014.

Women in executive travel jobs (paying at least £40k) earned an average of £52,703 last year, which was 7.7% or £3,919 more than the average male in a similar role.

For senior travel jobs (those paying between £30,000 and £39,999), men earned 0.8% more than the average woman with £32,650, or a difference of £268.

Men also out-earned women in mid-level positions (those paying between £22,000 and £29,999) with an average of £25,542 and a difference of 2.1 per cent or £518.

However, the situation was reversed for junior roles (those paying below £22,000) with women out-earning men by 2.8%, taking home an average wage of £20,178.

Overall, the gender pay gap in travel has narrowed to single digits for the first time since the study began.

The average male earned 6.5% or £1,805 more than is female counter-part last year. In 2019, the pay gap was 14.2% and in 2018 it was 18.4%. In 2017, it was 12.8%.

In terms of the overall gender split in travel, women continued to take up the majority of new positions at all levels, with females accounting for 76.6% of all new junior roles and 73.4% of all mid-level positions.

Women also took 74.4% of all new senior jobs in travel last year (up from 69.9% in 2019 and 62.3% in 2018) and 61% of all executive roles (up from 53.2% in 2019 and 38.1% in 2018).