Apologies. I certainly didn't mean that to come across as sounding like I think that all women take loads of time off to raise kids, or women should take time off to look after kids, or that men work harder than women or anything like that at all.
I'm simply talking about averages and the need to report meaningful statistics.
I'm saying that, across the UK in general, a significantly more women (still, in this day and age) take years off to raise kids than men and more (still) tend to retire earlier, which means that it's nonsense to expect that the average man's salary should be equal to the average woman's salary, or that there should be an equal number of men and women in top jobs.
But perhaps the number of years of difference is a lot less than I'm guessing? Perhaps the 17% difference really ought only be a 10% difference. I'll admit I'm just guessing.
And perhaps the number of women in the top 5% pay bracket ought to be higher than Southwark's 40%. Although perhaps it ought also be lower.