Mind the Gap

Have you met your legal duties to publish your gender pay gap? How does your figure compare to the UCU’s league table of the top and worst colleges and universities in the sector?

UCU (University and College Union) has published a report ‘Holding Down Women's Pay’ that names and shames the top 30 English further education colleges with the largest gender pay gaps amongst lecturing staff. A further three league tables show the top 30 UK universities with the largest gender pay gaps amongst academic staff, professors and academic-related staff.

However, some have complained that the report is misleading, as the statistics published relate to a comparison across all roles within each category, and therefore do not necessarily relate to pay differences for 'doing the same job'.

My own anecdotal evidence is that most colleges have a gender pay gap that is caused primarily by a gender imbalance in lower / higher paid job roles. For example, a gender pay gap will exist if middle and senior management posts are predominantly held by men while lower paid (and often part-time) posts are held predominantly by women. Many organisations who have met their legal duties to calculate and publish their gender equality gap in their annual equality report will have plans in place to try and address this gender imbalance.

However, it would be remiss of me not to mention that I occasionally come across situations where male assessors (such as those in engineering and construction) are paid a higher rate to female assessors (such as those in hairdressing). And yet these staff are carrying out job roles and responsibilities that are broadly comparable. In other words, they are ‘doing the same job’.

You can read UCUs report here