05 June 2018 
Martin Higgs, Communications Officer
In the face of widespread evidence of gender inequality in higher education, universities need to take active steps to tackle under-representation of women in their governance, writes Patrick Glencross, a solicitor at law firm Cripps.
The current situation
As has been widely reported, when UK universities and higher education institutions published their first gender pay gap reports earlier this year, they showed an average gender pay gap across the sector of around 14% – broadly comparable with the public sector as a whole. Some universities, however, reported figures of over 20% for mean gap and median gap in hourly pay-rates, notably Royal Holloway University (27.2% mean and 33.8% median) and Durham University (25.4% mean, 29.3% median).
Issues of gender pay disparity have also been highlighted in the current University Superannuation Scheme industrial dispute, with arguments advanced that the proposed shift from career average to defined contributions will exacerbate the effect of the gender pay gap and increase income disparity among older women and men.
The under-representation of women at the higher levels of their organisations, both senior academic posts and across senior management, was seen as a major factor causing the gender pay gaps. Many universities have developed action plans to address these issues.
Across the sector as a whole, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has set a target for the proportion of women on governing bodies to reach 40% by 2020 (the Scottish Funding Council set a similar target to be reached by 2018). These targets were adopted following a 2013 KPMG report that only 33% of governing body members were female. Research in 2016, however, showed little sign of progress, with over a third of institutions having less than 30% representation. Women chaired only 19% of governing bodies and held only 22% of vice chancellor or principal roles across higher education institutions.
The legal position
As public sector bodies, universities and higher education institutions are subject to the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010, which requires due regard in the exercise of all their functions towards advancing equality of opportunity and encouraging participation by groups (in this case women) whose level of participation is disproportionately low.
Possible solutions
What steps should universities take towards tackling this gender imbalance in their governance and attaining governing bodies which reflect the diversity of their workforce and their student population?
A starting-point is to move away from the “old boys’ network” as the traditional resource for filling vacancies, for example by more transparent and better targeted advertising of vacancies, working with executive search agencies and utilising specific networks (such as Women On Boards) to identify potential candidates.
The Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (now part of Advance HE) has established the Board Diversification Project with the objective to support greater diversity within higher education governing bodies. The strands of this project include an online vacancies portal, the formulation of a board appointment diversity framework and a series of readiness workshops to support women putting themselves forward for board appointments.
Training and mentoring programmes are also a common element of universities’ action plans towards tackling gender pay disparity, including specific programmes to support women returning to work after career breaks. These programmes can also contribute towards challenging gender imbalance in their governance.
Many universities are championing the Athena SWAN Charter (created by the Equality Challenge Unit, now also merged into Advance HE), which publicly recognises and rewards their commitment to the advancement of gender equality in academia and their progress towards addressing unequal gender representation. Clearly universities which actively promote gender equality across their organisations are also likely to make greater progress towards equality in their governance.
It remains to be seen whether any universities will follow the trend of adopting a form of the “Rooney rule” (originating in American football management) in their selection processes for appointments to their governing boards, by introducing a requirement that all interview processes must include candidates from under-represented groups, both women and ethnic-minority candidates.
One thing is clear, though, universities need to take active measures to address gender disparity in their governance to demonstrate that gender equality starts at the top.
Patrick Glencross is a senior associate in the employment team at Cripps. He has particular expertise in the areas of discrimination and equal opportunities. For more information contact Patrick on 01892 765419, email Patrick.glencross@cripps.co.uk or see www.cripps.co.uk.
