King¡¯s College London is to favour women for top jobs when there is little to separate candidates as part of efforts to close its gender pay gap.

The college launched a review of its pay rates and policies in April after a Times Higher Education analysis found that women academics at King¡¯s were paid about ?10,000 less than male academics on average ¨C an 18.2 per cent gap.

Around 1,700 people later signed a petition started by King¡¯s PhD student Jacqueline Robbins, which called for the institution to publish full details of pay by gender and initiate a plan to close the pay gap.

That study, whose results were published on 24 June However, it says there is ¡°no evidence to indicate that men and women doing equal work are being paid differently¡±.

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Men and women were with pay gaps limited to between 0 and 2 per cent for most rank-and-file positions. Gaps were slightly larger for professorial and senior management posts.

It found? ¡°the single most influential factor leading to the gender pay gap is the under-representation of women in higher salaried roles¡±.

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King¡¯s has now published a detailed plan of the steps it intends to take to increase the number of women in senior roles.

¡°The issue [of under-representation] arises primarily in our clinical and professorial roles, where women are under-represented at the most senior levels in a number of, but not all, faculties,¡± said Evelyn Welch, vice-principal (arts and sciences).

In a step described by King's as ¡°positive action¡±, Professor Welch said the institution?¡°agreed that in areas where women are seriously under-represented and two equally qualified and suitable candidates are identified, the position should be offered to the female candidate¡±.

It was also ¡°working on a faculty by faculty basis to identify appropriate targets that we should be striving for¡± and would further address the situation in its work regarding the Athena Swan and Gender Equality Chartermark initiatives.

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Ms Robbins, from the Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, who instigated the petition, welcomed the commitments from King¡¯s to increase pay transparency,?reduce the gender pay gap and increase the number of women in high level roles.

¡°It is great that King¡¯s is leading the way in this,¡± she said.

?jack.grove@tesglobal.com