The University has hired more men for its top-tier jobs than women, and the institution’s highest-paid salary bracket is dominated by male employees.
Figures from last month reveal that 76% of staff who earn the maximum salary are men.
In addition, the number of male employees currently outweighs females by more than half in the top pay scale.
By contrast, 64% of staff who earn the University’s minimum wage are women.
The investigation found that a professor, who typically earns between £56,000 and £76,000, can expect to have only 24% of female colleagues on the same pay scale.
A University spokesperson explained, ‘There is an uneven distribution of male and female staff at particular grades and this is the cause of an overall gender pay gap of 19.3% within the University. This figure reflects national patterns and it should not be assumed that the University pay scales or recruitment practices are unusual or unfair’.
‘However, this situation has encouraged the University to press ahead with current work on the University’s Equality and Inclusion Strategy. Our work to support the career development of women includes implementing the recommendations from our Equal Pay Audits, as well as addressing inequalities within key career transition points and how the culture within the University can encourage women to enhance their careers through the different promotion routes’.
The Gryphon also found that teaching and research staff in the science subjects are overwhelmingly male.
Over three-quarters of academic staff in the Environment department are men, with this figure rising to 85% for Maths and Physical Sciences.
The Faculty with the lowest proportion of female staff is Engineering, with 13% female academic teaching and research staff.
In contrast, 70% of teaching staff in the Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law are women.
Second-year Civil and Structural Engineering student Prithula Roy Choudhury said, ‘I feel that women are underrepresented in engineering and because of this, many girls think twice before choosing it as a career. Girls are equally good in this field and we can often overtake our male counterparts, but we need more female role models to inspire us’.
Second-year Maths student Rebecca Jones told this newspaper, ‘I’d say that about 90% of my lecturers and tutors are male, but I don’t feel that their sex matters when it comes to how well they teach and help their students. I wouldn’t feel any less comfortable going to a male tutor if I had a problem’.
Second-year French and Maths student Jenny Brown said, ‘I’ve always found it strange that despite the number of women who study Maths at an undergraduate level, very few continue into academia. It gives off the impression that postgraduate mathematics is very much a man’s world. I think the lack of female staff in the department reflects badly on the University’.
The statistics from February 2015 relate to the University’s Single Pay Spine and Grading Structure, which includes lecturers, professors and Heads of Services.
The University was unable to provide statistics relating to staff earning over £75,851, due to the fact that the people earning over the said amount would be so small that staff would be easily identifiable.
Charlotte Mason