Gender pay gap reporting

From 2017 any organisation with more than 250 employees has a legal obligation to report its gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across the University. As an employer with more than 250 employees the University will publish statutory calculations on its pay gap every year.

Background

The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across the University. As an employer with more than 250 employees it is a legal requirement for the University to publish statutory calculations on its pay gap every year, based on the “snapshot date” of 31 March. The University has 12 months from the snapshot date in which to publish the pay information.

The regulations stipulate that the following information must be reported:

  • mean gender pay gap in hourly pay
  • median gender pay gap in hourly pay
  • mean bonus gender pay gap
  • median bonus gender pay gap
  • proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment
  • proportion of males and females in each pay quartile

In accordance with the regulations and with reference to the Equality Act 2010 the University’s gender pay gap report includes data relating to persons who are engaged by the legal entity incorporated under the name ‘The Chancellors Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford’ (“the University”). This includes employees in University of Oxford departments, casual workers (including those undertaking casual teaching), those engaged through the University’s Temporary Staffing Service and those who work within Oxford University Press (“OUP”).

The University reporting does not include colleges or subsidiary companies, which are separate legal entities.

The University is committed to closing its gender pay gap and is undertaking a number of actions in relation to this. The gender pay gap report and narrative (PDF) is published annually.

Gender pay gap reporting at the University

Gender pay gap in ordinary pay

On the 31 March 2022 the University’s workforce for the purpose of gender pay gap reporting consisted of 19,190 individuals: 10,560 women and 8,630 men. 

The University’s gender pay gaps are as follows:
Gender pay gaps in ordinary pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 19.6% lower
Median gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 13.6% lower

 

The gender pay gaps identified are mainly attributable to the lack of women in senior roles in the University. There is an uneven distribution of men and women across grades, with women generally accounting for a higher percentage of staff at the lower end of the structure and a higher percentage of men in senior grades. A slightly greater proportion of women than men are employed in the upper middle pay quartile.

Proportion of males and females in each pay quartile Male Female
Upper quartile 58% 42%
Upper middle quartile 45.6% 54.4%
Lower middle quartile  41.5% 58.5%
Lower quartile  34.8% 65.2%

 

Gender pay gap in bonus pay

Gender pay gaps in bonus pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in bonus pay 61.6% lower
Median gender pay gap in bonus pay 0% lower

 

Proportion in receipt of bonus pay by legal sex  
Male  10%
Female 14.3%

 

Gender pay is different to equal pay. The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across the University. Equal pay ensures we are paying the same level of pay to those who are performing the same work, or work assessed as being of equal value as determined by an analytical job evaluation scheme which looks at the skills and requirements of the job.

Previous data (31 March 2021)

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On the 31 March 2021 the University’s workforce for the purpose of gender pay gap reporting consisted of 18,574  individuals: 10,013 women and 8,561 men. 

The University's gender pay gaps were as follows

Gender pay gaps in ordinary pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in ordinary hourly pay 18.1% lower
Mean gender pay gap in ordinary hourly pay 11.1% lower 

 

Mean gender pay gap in ordinary hourly pay Male  Female
Upper quartile 59%.6 40.4%
Upper middle quartile 46.4% 53.6%
Lower middle quartile  43.0% 57.0%
Lower quartile  35.4% 64.6%

 

Gender pay gaps in bonus pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in bonus pay 65.6% lower 
Median gender pay gap in bonus pay 0% lower 

 

Previous data (31 March 2020)

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On the 31 March 2020 the University’s workforce for the purpose of gender pay gap reporting consisted of 18,661  individuals: 10,038 women and 8,623 men. 

The University’s gender pay gaps are as follows:
Gender pay gaps in ordinary pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 20.1% lower
Median gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 13.7% lower

 

Proportion of males and females in each pay quartile Male Female
Upper quartile 59.6% 40.4%
Upper middle quartile 47% 53%
Lower middle quartile  41.4% 58.6%
Lower quartile  36.8% 63.2% 
Gender pay gaps in bonus pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in bonus pay 64.9% lower 
Median gender pay gap in bonus pay 0% lower

 

Previous data (31 March 2019)

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On the 31 March 2019 the University’s workforce for the purpose of gender pay gap reporting consisted of 18,196 individuals: 9,632 women and 8,564 men. The University’s gender pay gaps are as follows:

 
Gender pay gaps in ordinary pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 21.6% lower
Median gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 13.7% lower

 

Proportion of males and females in each pay quartile Male Female
Upper quartile 60.7% 39.3%
Upper middle quartile 49% 51%
Lower middle quartile  41% 59%
Lower quartile  37.5% 62.5% 
Gender pay gaps in bonus pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in bonus pay 70.7% lower 
Median gender pay gap in bonus pay 0% lower

 

Previous data (31 March 2018)

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Gender pay gaps in ordinary pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 22.6% lower
Median gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 13.7% lower

 

 

Proportion of males and females in each pay quartile Male Female
Upper quartile 62% 38%
Upper middle quartile 48.5% 51.5%
Lower middle quartile  40.9% 59.1%
Lower quartile  37.5% 62.5% 
Gender pay gaps in bonus pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in bonus pay 64.1% lower 
Median gender pay gap in bonus pay 6.7% lower

 

Previous data (31 March 2017)

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On the 31 March 2017 the University’s workforce for the purpose of gender pay gap reporting consisted of 17,363 individuals: 9,238 women and 8,125 men. The University’s gender pay gaps are as follows:

Gender pay gaps in ordinary pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 24.5% lower
Median gender pay gap in ordinary  hourly pay 13.7% lower

 

Proportion of males and females in each pay quartile Male Female
Upper quartile 62.8% 37.2%
Upper middle quartile 48.8% 51.2%
Lower middle quartile  40.7% 59.3%
Lower quartile  34.9% 65.1% 

 

Gender pay gaps in bonus pay Female earnings are
Mean gender pay gap in bonus pay 79.0% lower 
Median gender pay gap in bonus pay 48.7% lower

 

Proportion in receipt of bonus pay 
Male 7.6%
Female 8.9%

 

 

The University’s commitment to gender equality

The University of Oxford is committed to closing its gender pay gap. Promoting gender equality is a key strategic priority for the University as demonstrated by a number of initiatives:

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Athena Swan is a gender advancement accreditation scheme which supports good employment practices for women in higher education. It offers a valuable framework for introducing cultural changes that create a better working environment for both men and women.

The University has held an institutional Athena Swan Bronze Award since 2006, and. in February 2023, for the first time, the University was awarded an institutional Silver award, acknowledging the progress that has been made in addressing a number of gender gaps across the University over the last five years. The award includes new action plan for the period of 2023–2028 and many of the actions will contribute directly to closing the gender pay gap. In addition to ongoing work to increase the proportion of women in senior roles and ensure support for staff with caring responsibilities, the 2022–27 action plan will include objectives to understand and address occupational segregation and the over-representation of women in more junior grades. The institutional renewal process reiterates the University’s commitment to gender equality and involves widespread consultation to agree an action plan.

In addition, 42 (of 49) departments hold awards, 21 at Silver and 21 at Bronze; each has an accompanying action plan. In 2022, the Medical Sciences Division became the University’s first all-Silver division with 16 departments holding a Silver Athena Swan award.

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The University of Oxford is committed to taking action which will address the gender pay gap. In particular the University committed to increasing the proportion of women in academic, leadership and governance roles across the collegiate University.

Objectives for the current Strategic Plan are:

1. To achieve a yearly increase in the proportion of female Statutory Professors, with 27% representation by 2029

2. To achieve a yearly increase in the proportion of female Associate Professors, with 35% representation by 2029

3. Representation of women on Council and its main committees to be in the range of 40–60%.

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The Oxford Senior Women’s Mentoring Network is being re-formatted under the University’s new Leadership Hub, with a work stream devoted to mentoring and supporting staff progressing in senior academic/research roles. A 2022 internal review of Oxford mentoring schemes found evidence that both formal and informal mentoring led to career progression, and an event was held in 2022 to share lessons learned on running a mentoring network across the University.

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The University successfully revised its procedures for Statutory Professor recruitment in 2013-14. Since the introduction of the revised procedures, the proportion of women in statutory professor roles has increased from 11% to 20%, and women have represented over one-third of all new appointments.

The University has now implemented new processes to extend this success to Associate Professor recruitment.

Work continues in this area with the 2022 Athena Swan action plan containing actions to:

  • Strengthen recruitment processes to address gender and intersectional imbalances in senior academic roles.
  • Provide effective support for progression of female staff, and BME staff, into senior academic roles.

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The University provides excellent support to staff to balance their career with caring responsibilities. For example:

 

  • Since 2018, the university has introduced a suite of measures to support parents and carers, including Day 1 entitlement to paid family leave, carer’s leave, career break options, paid fertility treatment leave, expanding adoption leave to include early permanence arrangements, 5 days’ emergency dependant’s leave at full pay rate, offering up to 10 days additional annual leave through a salary sacrifice, and temporary flexible working options.
  • The Returning Carers Fund, launched in 2014, is a small grants scheme which supports those who have taken a break for caring responsibilities to re-establish their research careers.  
  • The University provides enhanced guidance and support for carers through a subscription to Work + Family Space, an external employee benefits provider.

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The University has many prominent female role models. Among our staff are numerous Fellows of the Royal Society, recipients of Queen’s Birthday and New Year’s Honours and prize winners. Women’s achievements at all levels are celebrated in University and department media.

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There is a breadth of equality and diversity work undertaken at the University which covers all the protected groups and actively engages in issues of intersectionality between gender and other protected groups.

The University publishes a comprehensive annual Equality Report setting out key equality data and summarising the University’s main equality-related activity during the preceding academic year. The Report contributes to the University’s evidence-based policy making and enables it to:

  • identify and action areas for further improvement
  • inform the setting of targets and indicators for the existing equality objectives
  • consider what additional objectives should be identified

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FAQS

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The Regulations came into force on 31 March 2017. Public sector employers have 12 months from 31 March 2017 to publish the data.

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The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across the University.

The figures to be reported are as follows:

  • Median and mean gross hourly pay gap
  • Median and mean bonus pay gaps
  • Percentage of female and percentage of male relevant employees who received bonus pay
  • Percentage of female and percentage of male relevant employees in each pay quartile

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The "Mean" hourly rate is calculated by adding all of the hourly rates together and dividing by the number of individuals in the data set.

The median hourly rate is calculated by arranging the hourly rates of all individuals in the data set in numerical order to identify the middle (or median) hourly rate. 50% of individuals will earn more than this hourly rate and 50% will earn less.

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The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s mean and median earnings across the University and is represented as a percentage.

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The data must be published on the University’s website and be publically available. The data also needs to be published on the government’s online reporting service.

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The University is legally required to publish its gender pay gap as specified in the regulations on an annual basis by the 30 March each year and based on the snapshot date of 31 March the previous year.

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The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between mens and womens average earnings across the University. Equal pay ensures we are paying the same level of pay to those who are performing the same work, or work assessed as being of equal value as determined by an analytical job evaluation scheme which looks at the skills and requirements of the job. It is possible therefore to have a gender pay gap without having any equal pay gaps.

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