Boys earn 17 per cent more than girls when they graduate

You might have thought the gender pay gap was closing, but troubling new stats suggest the opposite.

Core-shaking figures show flush boys will take home up to £9,000 more than girls graduating with the same CV.

On average, guys can expect to take home hefty pay packets of around 17 per cent more than their female equals.

Salary bench-markers Emolument, who surveyed 50,000 grads, exposed UCL as the worst offenders, with women earning 21 per cent less.

Boys graduating from Oxford can expect an average salary of £61,300 within five years, but girls with the same qualification and experience earn just £52,400 – a 14 per cent difference.

Philosophy fresher at UCL, Ben Foreman, said: “I don’t think this is very fair.

“Girls work just as hard, if not harder than guys at their courses.”

Kings College London had the smallest gender wage gap of three per cent, with men earning £41,300 compared to £39,900 for women.

KCL second year Nutrition and Dietetics Studies student, Jemma Escreet, told The Tab: “The country has still got a lot of work to do regarding equal rights for men and women and ensuring all institutions reinforce these rights.

“Women have the same mental abilities as men, why on earth should they be labelled by their gender and miss out?”

Those who go on to study an MBA have a narrower margin thanks to their established careers, but there’s still a gap.

Even so, girl MBA grads earn 13 per cent less than boys.

Emolument boss Thomas Drewry said: “The gender gap in salaries is a real issue in the UK today, and only by having a level of transparency will we start addressing the problem.

“Taking the decision to go to university or study for an MBA is a huge investment in terms of both time and money.

“It is important for people to consider what their earning potential might be when they have graduated, so they can manage their own career more effectively.”

Graduating Oxford Brookes English Lit student Charles Ward added: “There will always be pay variations across all sectors.

“Hopefully the percentage will decrease in the coming years.

“The increase in female representation in parliament is a good start.”