Working at LSE: Men earn almost three times bigger bonuses than women

Amadea Hofmann William Goltz Staff Writers

An investigation by The Beaver has found that male academics at the London School of Economics receive, on average, almost three times bigger bonuses than female academics.

The 2021 LSE Gender Pay Gap Report reveals a stark gender pay gap concerning the bonus pay awarded to staff. Crucially, these bonus discrepancies have no effect on LSE’s declared overall gender pay gap.

Over the past five years, LSE’s median gender pay gap has been steadily decreasing. In contrast, the mean gender pay gap has stayed roughly the same, with there being an approximately 24 percent difference in pay between genders. Importantly, both the median and mean indicators exclude bonus payments in their calculations of the gender pay gap. If bonuses were included in general calculations, the overall gender pay gap at LSE would be much worse than the official figures published.

To examine the bonus pay gap disparity, The Beaver reviewed the LSE Pay Gap Reports which have been published annually since 2017, when the government mandated that universities should publish their pay gap data. The above graphs illustrate the differences in bonus pay between genders; using calculations of the gender pay gap both including and excluding bonus considerations. The analysis provides a rare look inside what the gender pay gap at LSE actually is.

Despite men and women receiving bonuses at similar rates (38.57 percent and 34.35 percent respectively), the gender pay gap has increased tenfold. The difference in total bonus pay between genders was £332.49 in 2017, increasing to £3,763.70 in 2021.