Four more academic publishers reveal gender pay gaps

Academic publishers Taylor & Francis (T&F), Wiley, SAGE and Cambridge University Press have published their gender pay gap data, with all showing pay gaps in favour of men, particularly in bonus payments, and all having women under-represented in the upper pay quartile. All publishers have vowed to take steps to address the imbalance.

T&F - whose c.e.o. Roger Horton was still in place at the date on which the data was taken (April 2017), with female c.e.o. Annie Callanan joining afterwards - has revealed that its workforce of 1,002 is almost exactly one third men (340) and two thirds women (662). The median pay gap between the two is 8%, against a national average of 18.4%, but the mean pay gap is 24.2%, against a national average of 17.6%. A smaller percentage of women (35%) receive a bonus than men (45.6%) and the median bonus gap is 21.7%, the mean bonus gap 57.6%.

Looking at the proportion of the male and female workforce against the percentages in the various pay quartiles, it is clear women are under-represented in the top quartile who receive highest pay (51.7%) while men are over-represented in that quartile (48.3%). Conversely, women are over-represented in the bottom quartile with lowest pay (at 71.1%), while men are under-represented (28.9%).

T&F's parent company Informa has an overall median pay gap of 23%. Informa Group chief executive Stephen A Carter said in a statement: "The issue that creates this gap is the level of representation of women in senior roles across our business. We have therefore begun to take a range of practical steps to address this issue with greater structure, more focus, and greater discipline." He said changes have been made in recruitment practices, disclosure and screening practices, recruitment programmes for younger talent, leadership development programmes, flexible working practices including home working, employee assistance programmes, mentoring and development schemes and internal and external support programmes.

"Throughout the Group, we strive for a welcoming, opening and inclusive working culture, with respect for one another at the centre," he said, pointing out that he had become a signature member of the 30% Club, an international organisation that works to increase the representation of women and diverse talent at all levels.

Wiley said the pay gap for its UK workforce - which is 62% female and 38% male - stands at 21.5% measured by median, and 21.1% measured by mean. The gender bonus gaps are far higher, at 50.7% for the median measure and 42.3% for the mean. Wiley said: "Our mean and median bonus gaps are driven by our highest earners, who are predominantly male." A smaller proportion of women than men receive bonuses - 79.3% of women to 84.5% of men.

In the four pay quartiles, women are slightly over-represented in the lowest (66.1%) and considerably under-represented in the highest at only 44.2%.

President and c.e.o. Brian Napack commented: "Wiley is committed to improving our gender pay gap. We take this responsibility seriously and are introducing a series of actions to narrow the gap. We value the people we work with and want to see everyone succeed by focusing on equal opportunities, development, and achievement."

SAGE revealed that of its 438 UK employees, 64% are women (279) and 36% are men (159). The median gender pay gap stands at 14.5% and the mean gap at 22%. The median bonus pay gap is 20.7% and the mean 43.9%. All SAGE permanent employees earn a bonus.

In the lowest of the pay quartiles, women are somewhat over-represented (69% against a total workforce percentage of 64%), although in that particular quartile women out-earn the men by 10.3% (median) and 13.1% (mean); in the highest of the pay quartiles, women are under-represented at just 47%, with men paid 8% more (median) and 11.3% more (mean).

The publisher said the pay gap was driven broadly by the impact of higher executive salaries - the UK senior management group is 50:50 men to women, but the two most senior London-based executives are men - and by the large number of women in publishing roles. "Our technology functions occupy the upper quartile and are male dominated," it noted.

SAGE said: "We are unhappy with the size of the [gender pay] gap and we will therefore be taking positive action to reduce it. We welcome the push that this government initiative gives to SAGE to examine the dynamics behind the gender pay gap and the causes of the gap within our company. We are an organisation that wants to support both men and women to flourish equally throughout their careers." The company has established a gender equality group to focus on driving change and last year engaged with global consultancy Edge Strategy to assess gender equality. The Edge assessment produced recommended actions, and SAGE has started work on those including a review of its equality, diversity and inclusion policies and its dignity at work policy. It has also reviewed its pay levels for equal pay across the company and introduced training programmes covering unconscious bias and inclusive management.

SAGE promised in the coming years to establish a pay band structure across the company which will be independently audited and undergo an analysis of career progression by gender throughout the organisation. It will also develop a programme to recruit women into technology positions, develop its mentoring programme, review maternity, paternity, adoption, parental leave and flexible work policies to support everyone with caring responsibilities, encourage parental leave and flexible working regardless of gender.

Cambridge University Press (CUP) chose to disclose its own figures, although only required legally to include the data in with that of the wider university. It said its 1,089 UK workers are 40% male and 60% female and its median gender pay gap is 19% and the mean gap 24%. With bonus payments, the gap is higher: a 22% median gap and a 34% mean gap.

As with all the other publishers cited here, women are over-represented in the lowest pay quartile, at 67% of the quartile compared with the workforce percentage of 60%, while they are substantially under-represented in the top pay quartile, at 41% - with men substantially over-represented at 59%.

CUP said that to tackle its gender pay gap it had begun work in several areas: unconscious bias training; supporting aspiring female leaders with global mentoring; a review of its flexible working arrangements to make it easier for both men and women to work flexibly; proactively aiming at gender balanced female and male shortlists for jobs at CUP; new training for recruiting managers; and signing up the Publishers Association's Ten Point Inclusivity Action Plan.

Cathy Armor, CUP's director for people, said: "Cambridge University Press is committed to being a diverse and inclusive place to work. We are part of the University of Cambridge, committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to a pro-active and inclusive approach to equality."

Elsevier has reported a gender pay gap over 40.4%.

Springer Nature revealed its gender pay gap last week, along with Pearson.

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