UK: British universities narrow gender gap

The gender pay gap in British universities is narrowing and women are slowly catching up with their male colleagues. A study by the University and College Union of figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows there has been a steady decline in the gap in pay over the past six years.

In 1999-2000 women were 15.6 % behind men; in 2005-06, the average was 14.1%. England had the smallest average gap in the UK of 13.8% in 2005-06 and Wales the highest at 16.6%. Northern Ireland had a pay gap of 14.7% and Scotland 15.2%.

Only one institution, the University of the Arts, London, had a gender pay gap in favour of women academics – 1.2% – while St George’s, University of London, had the biggest discrepancy at 30.3%. New universities, mainly formed from polytechnics in the early 1990s, tended to have the smallest pay gap, and the oldest had the biggest disparities.

UCU joint general secretary Sally Hunt welcomed the findings but said discrepancies remained. She pointed out that employees had still to see the full impact of the pay framework agreement of 2004 which aimed to achieve equal pay for work of equal value through job evaluation. Most universities began to implement the agreement last August.

“Despite a narrowing gap, we cannot escape the fact that women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts,” Hunt said. “If the pay gap continues to narrow at the current rate, some female staff in our universities will never achieve parity with their male colleagues.

“Universities need to act now to ensure it is not just the children or grandchildren of current staff that benefit from hard fought battles over pay equality.”

She added that the union remained unconvinced by universities’ attempts to get to grips with gender pay differences and is conducting a survey to find out if equal pay audits have been carried out following the introduction of new salary and grading structures.

Jocelyn Prudence, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association, acknowledged there was more to do, although some progress had been made.

Caroline Slocock, chief executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission, thought the change of pace was not fast enough, as it was 32 years since the Equal Pay Act came into effect. She warned that the Gender Equality Duty, a new law introduced in April, meant that publicly funded employers, including universities, had to lead the way to help close the gap.

“Not only because it is the law, but also to reap the business benefits of having the right people, in the right jobs, and earning a fair salary,” Slocock said.

The HESA figures also show average salaries in 2005-06 for all full-time staff in the 121 higher education institutions in the UK. The highest was £115,000 (US$229,528) at the London Business School while the lowest was £29,000 at Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies. The UK average salary was £38,933 – a 6.6% increase on £36,534 in 2005-05.