Women Pay The Price

A review of Cambridge University staff salaries has revealed men earn almost 30% more than women.

The average pay for a female employee of the University is £30,253, while the average for a man is  £39,139, a difference of 29.4%, just less than last years 30%.

The report itself, which looked at academic, assistant and research staff, said the findings provide ”evidence of a gender imbalance across the grading structure”.

CUSU President Rahul Mansigani has described the findings as, “concerning”.

He said, “CUSU is concerned by the persistent gender pay gap within the University, but is a symptom of a much wider issue.”

“Unequal pay for equal work is not exclusive to Cambridge, but is both a national and international problem with the UK average pay gap for a full time worker standing at 17.2 per cent.”

Mansigani also highlighted the issue of another gender imbalance that the report revealed.

“It is very worrying that at the highest level, only 17 per cent of positions are held by women.”

Proffessor Athene Donald, Cambridge University’s gender equality champion and chair of the Gender Equality Group (GEG), also picked up on this imbalance, citing it as the cause for the pay gap.

“There are far more women in the lower grades and men in the higher, due to the usual patterns of working”.

“In other words women are more likely to be cleaners than men; there are more male professors than female.”

She added, “What really matters is not simply a comparison of the averages for men and women, but a comparison within each grade. Here the differences are much less marked.”

However, a breakdown of the data by occupation still shows a pay gap of 16.2% between male and female academics.

But Prof Donald remains hopeful.

She said, “We are absolutely not complacent but also believe strongly that we are progressive and pro-active in this area; the university is totally committed to ensuring equality”.