Gender pay gap apparent in first jobs after university

City female graduates still earn less than men

RECENT female graduates from Birmingham’s universities are earning thousands of pounds less than their male counterparts – even when they’ve studied the same subject at the same institution.

The gender pay gap can be partly explained by women taking time off work to have children, or a case of men being more likely to work in high-paying professions.

However, exclusive analysis of government figures by the Birmingham Mail has revealed that many young women are already earning less than

young men in their first jobs out of uni – even when they’ve got the same degree.

For example, women who graduated in Politics from the University of Birmingham in 2014-15 were earning an average annual salary of £17,600 one year after having finished their course.

At the same time, male graduates were typically earning £23,500 – a full £5,900 more a year.

Men who had recently got their degree in Physics and Astronomy from the university were earning £4,900 a year more than women on average, and those who had studied both Biosciences and Law were on £3,000 more. It is not only graduates from the University of Birmingham who see this discrepancy.

Men who studied Health and Social Care at Birmingham City University were also earning £5,900 more a year than their female counterparts.

Men who had a degree in Languages, Linguistics and Classics from Aston University were earning £4,300 more annually than the women on their course, just one year after graduation.

Meanwhile, men who had studied Sport and Exercise Sciences at University College Birmingham were earning £500 a year more than women on average, and those studying Education and Teaching at Newman University were typically earning £300 more.

However, in some cases women are earning more than men. Recent female graduates from Birmingham Uni who had studied Mathematical Sciences were earning £3,600 more a year than the men on their course.

Female Computing graduates from Birmingham City Uni were earning £2,200 more than men a year, while those who graduated in Sport and Exercise Sciences from Newman University were on £1,600 more.

But despite these cases it is more common for men to be earning more than women from their course one year after they graduate, and the gaps in favour of men are usually far greater.

Mandu Reid, Leader of the Women’s Equality Party, said: “The graduate pay gap highlights some of the many layers of inequality that women face.

“There is evidence that women go for lower positions and ask for less when they negotiate salaries having been socialised in a world where women are less valued than men.

“And there is also evidence that employers react badly when women do ask for more, whereas men are more likely to be applauded for doing so.”