The
gender pay gap is the difference in the average hourly wage of male and female employees across the full workforce. The
mean is the average hourly pay point of all male and female employees. The
median is the midpoint hourly pay point of all male and female employees.
It is important to note that the gender pay gap does not indicate pay discrimination (i.e. an absence of equal pay for the same work, which was outlawed in the Republic of Ireland by equal pay legislation in 1975). Universities operate to nationally approved incremental published salary scales and follow good practice in their job sizing and pay progression policies, in line with the
Irish Human Rights Equality Commission (IHREC) Code of Practice on Equal Pay
While not constituting pay discrimination, a gap may indicate that there are differences in the roles that women are represented in compared to men. It is important to identify any barriers or biases that may lead to a gender pay gap and actively work to address these.
Using the snapshot date of 30/06/2022, MU’s mean hourly pay gap for all staff is 17% (Table 1).
Table 1: Maynooth University Gender Pay Gap Data (2022), using the snapshot date of 30/06/2022
| |
Mean Hourly Pay Gap - All Staff |
Median Hourly Pay Gap - All Staff |
Mean Hourly Pay Gap – Temporary Employees |
Median Hourly Pay Gap – Temporary Employees |
Mean Hourly Pay Gap – Part Time Employees |
Median Hourly Pay Gap – Part Time Employees |
| Maynooth University |
16.99% |
24.14% |
14.03% |
9.39% |
16.89% |
4.34% |
MU has a higher percentage of female staff in the lower, and lower middle quartile pay bands compared to the upper middle and upper quartile pay bands which are gender balanced (Table 2).
Table 2: Proportion of male and female employees in the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay bands (2022), using the snapshot date of 30/06/2022
| |
Quartile 1 |
Quartile 2 |
Quartile 3 |
Quartile 4 |
| Male |
32.80% |
32.48% |
47.74% |
54.19% |
| Female |
67.20% |
67.52% |
52.26% |
45.81% |
MU recognises the importance of addressing the gender pay gap to ensure we continue to attract, develop, and retain talented people.Reasons for the Gender Pay Gap are likely to comprise a combination of institutional and external factors, including differences between men and women in length of service, historically gender segregated occupations, career progression, educational attainment and qualifications, the prevalence of fulltime and part-time working, gender differences in early career salary expectations (see HEA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021 – Earnings Analysis), the gendered nature of caring and family responsibilities, and the impact that this has on female career advancement.
MU has put in place a range of actions to support gender equality; from commitment to the Athena Swan Ireland initiative, high-level gender equality steering groups, gender equality action plans, policies, and involvement in EU and HEA research projects on gender equality.
MU is a signatory of the
Athena Swan Ireland Charter Principleshas held an
Athena Swan Bronze Institution Award since 2018, which recognises our commitment to advancing gender equality. We have a
Gender Equality Steering Group who developed the MU
Gender Action Plan 2018-2022, underpinned by the University’s
Equality and Diversity Policy, which includes evidence informed actions and targets tailored for our institution to target potential reasons for the gender pay gap, such as potential bias that can manifest in recruitment and promotions processes, gender differences in early career salary expectations, the gendered nature of caring and family responsibilities, and the impact that this has on female career advancement.
In addition to this, our actions will be informed by our work as a partner in the European funded project
GenderAction+ which aims to advance gender equality in the European Research Area, and the recently published
Report of the Expert Group: 2nd HEA National Review of Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education Institutions recommendations.The HEA’s
Gender Equality Enhancement Fund has also recently supported a project titled “Addressing the Gender Pay Gap in Irish Higher Education”. This project will create a modelling tool for the higher education sector which MU will benefit from for future gender pay gap reporting.
