Female academics lose out on pay

Levels of pay for female academic staff in the UK's universities lag nearly 20% behind their male colleagues, says a lecturers' union.

The Association of University Teachers (AUT) says government figures showed that while male academics earned an average £669 gross a week, female staff received just £556.

It is difficult to see how universities can discuss equality without first tackling this fundamental barrier

David Triesman, AUT

The £113 a week deficit amounted to a 17% shortfall, the AUT says.

Analysis by the union shows the gender gap in higher education has narrowed by 10% in the past 10 years.

But its general secretary, David Triesman, said the continued gulf in earnings was "a serious impediment to achieving equality".

He said: "On average male academic staff earn £113 per week more than female counterparts, enough money to pay the rent or feed a family.

"It is difficult to see how universities can discuss equality without first tackling this fundamental barrier."

Explanation

Research by another lecturers' union, Natfhe, in April last year concluded that women were being discriminated against at all grades and in almost all subject areas.

An explanation often put forward is that it used to be the case that fewer women than men became academics, so there are more older men in senior, better-paid positions.

But Natfhe said analysis of the figures showed that this argument did not stand up.

It claimed the only explanation for the findings was that women academics were being appointed at lower points on the pay scale than men and stood much less chance of promotion.

The 1999 Bett Report on higher education pay and conditions said many universities could be taken to court by underpaid female academics.

Most would have to increase their pay budgets by between 2% and 5% to meet the requirements of equal opportunities legislation, giving equal pay for work of equal value, it said.

At a conference on Wednesday on equality issues, organised by the umbrella organisation Universities UK, the Education Minister Baroness Blackstone said women were "disproportionately represented" in lower-paid posts.