ALMOST double the number of North-East female directors suffered redundancy compared to their male counterparts, figures have shown.

And North-East women earn on average £5,000 less than male colleagues in a similar role, with the gap rising to more than £14,500 at director level, the report by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found.

The information is taken from the National Management Salary Survey, published by XpertHR, which looks at salary and labour turnover rates for 3,194 people in executive roles in the North-East.

The research reveals that the average male in an executive role in the North East earned a basic salary of £29,812 over the 12 months to August 2012, compared to £24,680 for a female in the same type of role.

At a national level, although female junior executives earned marginally more than males at junior levels for the second year running - £21,491 compared to £21,128 - the gender pay gap remained substantial at the top of the executive ladder, with female directors earning an average basic salary of £127,257 – compared to the male director average of £141,946.

National figures also show that more women than men bore the brunt of job cuts in the 12-month period to August 2012, with 4.3 per cent of female executives were made redundant, compared to 3.2 per cent of male executives.

At board level, the gap was even more marked, with twice as many female directors as male directors made redundant - 7.4 per cent compared to 3.1 per cent.

Figures also show significantly less women rise through the ranks, despite women making up 57 per cent of executives in the UK workforce.

Although at junior level, almost one in seven executive workers are female, a much smaller percentage made it into top roles – just two in five of department heads are female and only one in four are chief executives.

Asif Bhana, North-East manager for the Chartered Management Institute said Government should demand pay transparency, and name and shame companies perpetuating inequality, as well as legislating on parental leave.

He added: “Allowing these types of gender inequalities to continue is precisely the kind of bad management that we need to stamp out. Companies are missing out on the full range of management potential at a time when we need to be doing everything we can to boost economic growth.”