Higher education – The Orbital

Sexism Storm Surrounds Royal Holloway Principal

23Jan

By Abbie CheesemanNo Comments

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Sexism Storm Surrounds Royal Holloway Principal

Royal Holloway Principal, Professor Layzell has claimed the university has a “transparent and fair pay system” despite having the seventh worst gender pay gap in the country at professorial level. Speaking at his last Staff Open Meeting in November, he claimed the problem was instead rooted in the fact there are not enough women going for promotion. In a recording of the meeting obtained by Orbital Magazine, the Principal claimed that “there are certain protected groups where there is a natural tendency to not have a go and put themselves in for promotion - sometimes that’s gender, sometimes it’s the BAME group”. The Principal is facing backlash from his “natural tendency” comments, with one member of staff in the Geography Department telling Orbital that it was “an example of ev...

10% gender pay gap: stop victim-blaming, start bias proofing says UCU RHUL committee

UCU RHUL committee response to Abbie Cheeseman’s article A Feminist Institution with a 10% Gender Pay Gap? The UCU Royal Holloway local branch committee welcomes Abbie Cheeseman’s article entitled A Feminist Institution with a 10% Gender Pay Gap? She highlights the greater-than 10% gender gap in professorial pay at RHUL which the Times Higher Education (THE) this year reported was the 7th worst in the UK. She also rightly pointed out that this pay gap has been steadily widening in recent years. Cheeseman suggested that Gender pay gaps should not be seen as a direct case of sexism and considered various possible explanations for the pay gap increases. In fact the explanations given by the College are indirect cases of sexism. Cheeseman suggested that efforts to decrease the gap ...

Thatcher’s Reforms Revisited Through National Archive Release

In lieu of the recently exposed archives that former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had been working on, the Iron Lady and her changes to universities and the higher education system are once again being evaluated. The documents released at the end of last year by the National Archives highlighted Thatcher's proposed changes to the education system. The documents revealed the former Prime Minister's plans to separate schools from local authorities, and her thought's on GCSEs, which she believed would be detrimental and lead to a 'can't fail mentality'. Her reforms are still the basis of the current changes that are being made to the education system, with former education minister Michael Gove attempting to follow her lead. Thatcher’s higher education policies, while incredibly unp...