Women make up almost 60 per cent of all graduates, but take less than 42 per cent of graduate jobs
The gender pay gap has many faces. It is not always a simple case of men and women being paid different salaries for doing the same jobs – it can also mean women being denied certain opportunities, being pointed in the direction of lower-paid jobs from the time they are in school, and being overlooked for promotions and appointments to higher-paid roles.
Analysis of the latest graduate employment statistics, released yesterday, shows that the overall share of female graduates in graduate jobs has not improved over the least five years. According the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), while nearly three in five graduates are women (58.7 per cent), the share of female graduates joining AGR employer programmes only averages 41.6 per cent.
62.8 per cent of AGR firms currently have strategies aimed at improving gender balance but the latest figures have cast doubt on their effectiveness. The findings have dampened the general enthusiasm about the graduate jobs market, which is currently buoyant with graduate employers saying they expect to have 24,126 vacancies in the coming recruiting season, a 13 per cent increase on last year.
Stephen Isherwood, AGR chief executive, said of the statistics:
“Gender diversity is an issue which requires more of our attention… it indicates there is more to be done to attract female graduates who in turn need to make the most of the opportunities available.”
The fact that women appear to be being overlooked for graduate jobs also has implications for the usual justifications given for gender pay gap. Family commitments, caring responsibilities, maternity leave etc are unlikely to be issues for the vast majority of these young women. The imbalance here seems to imply an inherent bias which could be being replicated across the labour market.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward
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4 Responses to “New figures show women are being overlooked for graduate jobs”
Dave Stewart
No there is only an implication of an inherent bias if the percentages of women who actually get a a graduate job AFTER applying is any different to those for the percentage of men who get a graduate job AFTER applying. Otherwise you can easily chalk the differences up to different levels of applications between men and women and therefore you would expect differences in the number of jobs offered to men and women.
I’m not suggesting there is no bias just that this information by itself does not imply there is one. Also if there is a difference between the numbers of men and women applying (as I suspect there will be) then this is an issue which should be looked into.
PT
No comment on the scandal that is men being only 40% of graduates, Ruby?
seventensandnine
Doesn’t help the narrative, so no.
OE123
This smells like a feminist toilet. I bet if I were to look into these numbers I’ll find an inherent desperation to push your psychotic ‘women-as-victim’ narrative at all costs. Women in the post-grad age groups make more money than men for god sakes. What’s wrong with you hateful, lying, disingenuous hacks anyway?? Seriously?