The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has released a comprehensive report, Show me the money – an exploration of the gender pay gap in higher education (HEPI Report 171), authored by HEPI’s Director of Policy and Advocacy, Rose Stephenson. The report, supported by Durham University, delves into the persistent pay gap between genders within the higher education sector, despite notable advancements in female representation. The study provides a unique institution-by-institution analysis, offering insights into the ‘heroes and villains’ in the ongoing battle for pay equity.
Key findings:
- The UK’s higher education sector has a smaller gender pay gap than the national average, with significant improvements since 2017.
- Disparities persist between institutions, with some leading the way towards gender pay equity, while others lag behind.
- The report ranks higher education institutions by their current median and mean gender pay gaps, as well as progress over time.
- Overall, progress in reducing the pay gap may be slowing, indicating the need for renewed focus and strategy. Indeed, many institutions (28) will never reach pay parity at their current rate of progression as they have been moving in the wrong direction – see Table 5 in the report. On their current trajectory and according to the most recent comparable data, 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.
There is plenty of good news for the sector in this report. The median gender pay gap across the sector stands at 11.9 per cent, outperforming the broader UK average of 14.4 per cent. 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.
