Fourteen UK universities have average gender pay gaps of 20 percent or more, despite progress in the sector to narrow the gap.
The largest mean pay gaps were at the University of Buckingham (31 percent), the Royal Veterinary College (30 percent) and the London Business School (30 percent).
Think tank, the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) , published the figures in its report ‘Show me the money – an exploration of the gender pay gap in higher education’. It said the findings showed a “persistent pay gap” in the sector.
In spite of the disparity, the report also found that the UK’s higher education sector has a smaller gender pay gap than the national average, having made significant improvements since 2017.
The median gender pay gap for the sector is 11.9 percent, which compares favourably to the UK average of 14.4 percent. HEPI said, on average, the higher education sector will take 14 years to close its gender pay gap, compared to 18 years for all UK employment sectors.
Mean averages also showed that the University of the Arts, London, had no gender pay gap, while the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama had a minus 2 percent gap, meaning women were paid more than men.
However, report author Rose Stephenson, director of policy and advocacy at HEPI, warned against viewing the institutions in the ranking as heroes and villains explaining that the reasons behind the disparities were complex.
Report findings also showed that overall, progress in reducing the gap among higher education employers may be slowing, indicating the need for renewed focus and strategy.
It said that at the current pace, 28 of the ranked institutions “will never reach pay parity at their current rate of progression as they have been moving in the wrong direction”.
The University of Leeds and Loughborough University could take over half a century to close their gender pay gaps while the University of Oxford will take 680 years to close its gender pay gap, HEPI said.
Professor Karen O’Brien, vice-chancellor of Durham University, which supported the research, said: “Mandatory gender pay gap reporting has successfully drawn attention to the importance of reducing pay gaps. Real progress will require long term strategies and action plans to address inequalities and bring about systemic change. This is the approach we have taken at Durham University.”
HEPI’s Stephenson said: “Some institutions have made exceptional progress narrowing, or even eliminating their gender pay gap. However, some institutions have made too little progress, or even seen their pay gaps increase over the last five years.
“What is clear from the report is that there are structural reasons for the gender pay gap – and these structural barriers can and should be removed. A laser-like focus on flexible working opportunities, family friendly policies that work for fathers as well as mothers, and a detailed understanding of structural biases within recruitment processes will allow institutions to make more progress towards gender pay equity.”
Report recommendations:
- Increase part-time and flexible working opportunities, particularly in senior roles
- Prepare for, communicate and implement the new Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023
- Review and overhaul recruitment metrics, particularly those that lead to further inequity
- Ensure gender-diverse recruitment panels
- Avoid asking about salary history in recruitment processes, to mitigate historical pay biases
- Encourage and normalise the uptake of paternity leave, shared parental leave and flexible work for fathers
- A call to action for the government to consider more proactive forms of paternity leave, like those seen in Sweden
