UoB’s 16. 2 per cent gender pay gap will be ‘significantly reduced’ by 2021, say Bristol Uni and UCU

Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor for the University of Bristol, and Tracey Hooper, President of UCU, have released a statement showing their commitment to ending the gender pay gap at the university.

The statement pointed to "shared concerns" over the speed in which changes are being implemented to reduce the gender pay gap.

The University of Bristol has agreed to participate in negotiations with UCU where both institutions will agree on actions to reduce the gender pay gap within three years. These negotiations are set to be finished by December 2018.

Bristol UCU tweeted the statement early this morning

The university's Gender Pay Gap Report 2018 highlighted how the median gender pay gap at the university amounted to 16.2 per cent. This is slightly below the national average, coming in at 18.4 per cent.

With 55 per cent of the university's workforce being female, 69 per cent of those in the lower quartile for hourly pay are women.

However, it should be noted that the gender pay gap measured in this report focuses on the difference of average hourly earnings between men and women. The gender pay gap is different from unequal pay, which describes when men and women are paid different salaries for performing the same job.

Source: University of Bristol's Gender Pay Gap Report 2018

Brady and Hooper concluded their statement by writing: "The University of Bristol agrees to provide leadership across and within schools and to commit resources, support and guidance to achieve this objective."

"It will also ensure that the University's strategic objectives include appropriate key performance indicators."

"Both the University and UCU are committed to implementing a jointly agreed action plan, and to monitoring and reviewing that plan together regularly to ensure we achieve our shared objective of eliminating the gender pay gap among academic staff at the University of Bristol."