Unequal pay persists in universities

Female academics are increasing in numbers, but are continuing to lose out on pay in comparison to their male colleagues.

The number of female academics employed in UK higher education rose by 43% between 1995-96 and 2002-03, according to a new report from the AUT lecturers' union. The unequal academy found that the number of male academics grew by only 4% in the same period. Overall, 39% of academics are now women.

Yet female full-time academics earn only 85.1% of the average salary for men - slightly less than in 1995-96, when the figure was 85.5%. And women are still not equally represented in the higher grades - they account for only 13% of professors in the pre-1992 universities, and just 30% of departmental heads in the post-1992 universities.

The report also shows that the use of fixed-term contracts is far higher for women than for men. In 2002-03, 48% of women academics were employed on a fixed-term contract, compared with 38% of men.

There has been an increase in part-time working for both men and women. More than a quarter (26%) of female academics now work part-time - an increase from 19% in 1995-96 - while the figure for men is 13% (up from 9%).

"This report provides yet more evidence of the discrimination faced by women working in our universities. They are paid less, are more likely to be employed on a casual basis and continue to occupy the more junior grades," said AUT general secretary Sally Hunt. "It is time for our universities to take some real action to solve this scandal."

The unequal academy can be downloaded from www.aut.org.uk/media/pdf/aut_unequalacademy.pdf