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The reduction is largely due to the proactive measures Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê has taken to encourage more women to seek promotion and to apply for our senior roles, and to ensure pay decisions take account of the need to close the existing gap, but there is still a way to go.

"Given our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, the presence of a gender pay gap remains a very disappointing reality and one that we want to remove as fairly as we can and as soon as we can," explained Fiona Ryland, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Executive Director of HR.

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê has an equal pay policy so there is no 'equal pay gap' as staff receive equal pay for work of equal value in every pay grade across the university.

The 17.5% gap exists because more men than women occupy senior roles at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê. There is a noticeable drop in the proportion of black and minority ethnic (BME) staff as we move up each level at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê, resulting in a mean ethnicity pay gap of 13.1%. We are aware that the reasons for each gap are likely to be different and are committed to addressing both issues.

Essentially, female and BME staff are more likely to be employed in roles within the lower half of the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê grading structure and less likely to be employed in roles within the top half the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê grading structure which is the overwhelming reason for the gender and ethnicity pay gaps.

"Demographics have changed slowly over time, but more action is needed to increase diversity at higher levels of the organisation which will directly lead to a reduction in the gender and ethnicity pay gaps. This is a considerable challenge given the structure of our current workforce and our low staff turnover rates but we believe it is achievable," Ms Ryland added.

We have ambitious institutional and departmental gender equality action plans in place through our participation in Athena SWAN and the Race Equality Charter. We are also driving forward initiatives through our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) networks which are overseen by our '50:50' (gender equality) committee.

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê is also the first institutional member of WHEN - a new national network for all women in higher education which aims to speed up gender equality and builds on our successful Astrea network.

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê President & Provost, Professor Michael Arthur, said: "We have made fantastic progress since 2013 in starting to close the gender gap but we fully acknowledge that we still have a long way to go to redress past imbalances and increase diversity in senior roles at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê.

"Being open about - and facing up to - our gender and ethnicity pay gaps is an important step in us taking informed, positive action that fosters a culture in which our staff flourish and their unique perspective, experiences and skills are valued."

To achieve our target of having 50/50 male/female representation and increased diversity at grades 9 and 10, we will:

• Be bold in our recruitment by applying positive action measures to the widest possible pools of talent
• Offer flexible working - including senior job shares - to hang on to talent
• Offer shared parental leave to address inequality in caring responsibilities
• Minimise sexual and gender-based harassment by responding better and taking measures to prevent it
• Support career progression and improve talent spotting by removing unnecessary systemic barriers to promotion and development
• Be inclusive in our leadership by reducing implicit bias, valuing different contributions of talent and leadership, and enabling a culture of sponsorship

We know that the gender and ethnicity pay gaps are caused by historical recruitment trends and wider norms in society but we are committed to better understanding the more complex factors behind each at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê as much as we are able to, so we can address them fully.Ìý

Links

• This article quotes the figures for the mean pay gap.

  The median pay gap percentages used in the graphics and full report are calculated by finding the figure that sits in the middle of a range when everyone's wages are lined up from smallest to largest and comparing this figure to the median for other groups. The Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê median gender pay gap is 8.9%, which is below the 2017 UK average of 18.4% reported by the , and the median ethnicity pay gap is 7.9%.

• Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê gender and ethnicity pay gap report
• Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê 50:50 gender equality group

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• Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Quad