Sexism begins at graduation

September 17, 2001

Sexism begins at graduation

The pay gap between men and women begins immediately after graduation, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has found.

Male graduates are twice as likely to earn a salary above £25,000 as their female counterparts, the study revealed. And for every 5 women earning between £10,000 and £15,000, there are just three men. Unsurprisingly, male graduates are more satisfied, more loyal and more positive about their career prospects than women.

Gerwyn Davies, author of the Graduate Workplace Attitude report, said: “It appears that female graduates have lower expectations than their male counterparts when it comes to starting salary. The pay gap is still an issue – even within this group.”

She continued: “What our survey also shows is that graduates are a knowledgeable, ambitious and happy bunch who have long-term career prospects foremost in mind. Employers and managers are clearly responding to their growing needs as consumers, with graduates reporting very high levels of satisfaction for nearly all aspects of their work.”

Key findings include:

Career prospects rather than ethics or money are the most important consideration when choosing a job. Two-thirds said that getting on the career ladder was the most important reason for accepting the first job. Half that amount said that a company’s ethical reputation would not influence their job decision at all.

Work is a positive experience for the majority, 87% feel secure in their job while 92% are positive about their career prospects.

Newly-employed graduates are generally successful at salary re-negotiating – 84% of attempts are successful.

The majority (60%) of respondents received a starting salary of between £15,000 and £20,000.