Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, has today submitted Freedom of Information requests to each of the 29 Cambridge University colleges, asking for their current gender pay gap.

Last summer, Cambridge University revealed that its pay gap remained at over 18%. For academics across the country, the gap stands at 12% and has been slowly decreasing in the last few years. The Universities and Colleges Union says that this equates to a shortfall of £6,103 per year for each female academic. In total, this equals £528 million per year. The gap is also larger at older Universities such as the University of Cambridge, at an average of 16.3%.

Mr Zeichner says: “It’s important to remember that the University of Cambridge is so much more than just academics -; the staff who keep the colleges going are often on much lower wages, and are often overlooked by gender pay gap reporting.”

“As many of us agree, International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come, while recognising that we still have a long way to go. By making this information public, we can support colleges which are doing well at eliminating gender pay disparity while encouraging those which have work to do in this area to address the issue. “

“There are so many tireless and brilliant women campaigning for equality all over Cambridge -; we must all support this cause together, and give it the platform it deserves.”