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thegryphon.co.uk
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The official newspaper of Leeds University
www.thegryphon.co.uk
Image: freepik.com
Twitter: @TheGryphonLeeds Instagram: @thegryphon Issue 9 06/03/20
Time for a Pitcher at Spoons? A new Wetherspoons is opening up in Headingley just up the road from Hyde Park Book Club Page 6
HS-2 Be or Not To Be?
19% of Top Jobs Held by Women at Leeds University
Features analyses the recent greenlighting of HS2 and whether building the lines from London was the best idea Page 9
Statistics show that there were 31 women in jobs with salaries higher than £100,000 at the University in 2018/19 compared to 132 men, with a gender pay gap of 18.9% across the entire University. Ed Barnes Editor-In-Chief In a Freedom of Information request, The Gryphon can reveal that there has been consistently higher numbers of men in jobs with salaries higher than £100,000 than women over the last four years. The highest proportion of women in jobs that were in this category ever was 26.3% in 2017/18. The number of women in top jobs in 2015-16 was twenty-two with an increase of seven in 2016-17. Since then, the number has only increased by 2. The number of men by comparison in 2015-16 was 116, increasing to 126 in 2016. There was then a decrease of 16 the following year following by an increase of 22 last year. The percentage of female staff at the University in July 2019 stood at 54%, an decrease of 1% since 2017. The statistics also revealed the number of BAME employees on salaries higher than £100,000 has not increased more than 7 in any year
with the number dropping below 5 in 2017-18. This meant there were 7 BAME employees earning more than £100,000 compared to 117. This meant they only made up 4% of staff in this grouping. By comparison, the percentage of BAME staff across the entire University is nearly three times as high at 11% with the wider BAME population in Leeds standing at 15%. However it must noted that at least more than 20% of employees in the last three years have not declared their ethnicity and this absence in the data could affect the figures we see above. The Gryphon previously reported a pay gap of 39% for Black employees at the University of Leeds compared to White employees. The Gryphon was not able to reveal the figures for BAME men and women individually with salaries higher than £100,000 because the numbers of staff were less than or equal to five. These numbers would be low enough that staff might be able to be identified
from the statistics. The news comes after the University of Leeds has just appointed a woman as Vice-Chancellor, Simone Buitendjk. Less than 15% of Vice-Chancellors in the UK are women according to research by Lancaster University. Women make up 51% of the general population. A University of Leeds spokesperson said: “Gender imbalance across roles is a contributing factor in our gender pay gap and we know that there is more to do to achieve the right balance. This is an issue across the sector. “Through a strategic focus on recruitment, reward and people development practices we have seen a reduction in the pay gap since 2017, and each year we’re learning more about the causes, introducing further programmes of work and embedding long-term sustainable practices to create a fairer and more inclusive workplace.” Story continues on page 7.
Getting down with MP Hilary Benn Views Editor Eloise Barry sits down with Hilary Benn to discuss transport in Leeds and how he wants Labour to get stuff done. Page 14
Tackling Gender Equality at the STEM Science writer Eleanor King looks at whether STEM subjects at the University of Leeds are inclusive enough of women. Page 20