Food manufacturer 2 Sisters has announced plans for a new strategy to close its gender pay gap and promote equal opportunities for its female employees.

The food producer’s Gender Pay Gap report showed there was a 9.7% mean and 4.1% median pay gap between male and female workers. This compares favourably with the 24.5% median private industry average, but 2 Sisters said that more could be done to reduce the figure.

Currently, the company’s top salary quartile consists of 26.3% women in its food group; 27.6% in its poultry business, and 10.3% in its red meat sector.

President of 2 Sisters owner Boparan Holdings Ranjit Singh Boparan said: “These values mean that we always pay our men and women equally for doing the same role with the same level of experience. Unfortunately, like many other companies in our sector and the UK, we have more men than women in senior roles and this is what is driving our current gender pay gap.”

The company’s seven-step gender pay gap strategy will be introduced to help women progress within the company, including senior managerial-level support, a positive target has been set of at least 30% of senior roles being occupied by women by 2021, as well as sponsored Master of Business Administration scholarships, and a mentoring programme exclusively for women. 2 Sisters pledged to measure the success of the strategy annually.

Boparan said there was a need to create an equal working environment, which would encourage the promotion of women to senior management roles.

“Unfortunately, like many other companies in our sector and the UK, we have more men than women in senior roles and this is what is driving our current gender pay gap,” he said.

“So, today, we have unveiled a series of initiatives designed to tackle this gap at the senior managerial levels of the organisation to ensure women are better represented and have a stronger voice, and I look forward to seeing solid progress as our new strategy beds in.”​

Last month, more than 25 food companies including Unilever, Diageo UK published their gender pay gap information, which found that in some instances women were paid more than men on average.