Worsening ethnic and gender paygaps show ‘systemic discrimination’, warns former RIBA chief

Marsha Ramroop, who was appointed by the RIBA in February 2021 but resigned a year later, said figures the institute published this week were ‘cause for concern’.

The RIBA’s annual Business Benchmarking report uncovered increases in both the gender and ethnicity pay gap among practices with 100-plus employees who volunteered their metrics.

Women were paid on average 17 per cent less than men in the latest figures, which cover practice performance in the 12 months to 1 May this year. The gap has increased from 15 per cent the previous year.

Employees from a black or minority ethnic background, meanwhile, were paid 21 per cent less than white workers – compared with 14 per cent in the 2021 figures.

Ramroop said: ‘Any widening of pay gaps, gender or ethnicity, should be cause for concern and serious introspection by practices as it’s indicative of systemic discrimination and a failure to consciously act to prevent or mitigate it.

‘It is a fallacy that simply by knowing we’re biased, we will act in a less biased way. We need to create, implement and enforce policies, procedures and practices to mitigate the impact of hidden bias.’

Women in Architecture chair Igea Troiani described the figures as ‘very worrying and disappointing’.

The campaign body had attempted to work with the RIBA on a project to better understand whether remote work was improving the quality of work life for female architects but was unable to attain funding, Troiani added.

She said an upcoming event would analyse ‘why women architects don’t push for more money’ as well as ‘why women are often doing the same job as their male counterparts but being paid less’.

The RIBA’s report said that female staff ‘continue to be under-represented in the highest quartile of incomes and over-represented in the lowest’. The same, it said, was true for non-white workers.

London Borough of Waltham Forest head of design Alpa Depani described the findings as ‘depressing’.

‘Among numerous metrics that show that inequality in the UK is increasing, the stark data on architects from the RIBA is not surprising – but it is dispiriting,’ she added.

‘Our profession is better versed than ever in the language of equality yet poorly equipped to do something about it. The job of being an architect is challenged by the economy, supply chains and labour shortages but we can’t allow that to stall progress in an industry that already lags so far behind others.’

RIBA head of economic research and analysis Adrian Malleson said: ‘Investing in the built environment will increase economic productivity, benefit our communities and help secure the country’s long-term success.

‘Part of this success is ensuring that we all work towards creating and sustaining a more equitable, diverse and inclusive profession. RIBA will continue to drive change within our own organisation, and also mobilise the profession to play its part. We will continue to work with practices to commit to and deliver on this in the coming months – supplying targeted resources and support.’

The institute was unable, however, to clarify what new resources and support it will supply.

A spokesperson pointed to its Gender Pay Gap Guidance designed to help practices create action plans to tackle pay disparities.

‘We will continue to create targeted resources that support the development and progression of all our members,’ they said. ‘We are concerned that gender and ethnicity pay gaps persist across the profession.

‘RIBA takes seriously its role in driving change within our own organisation, and in mobilising the whole profession to play their part. We encourage practice leaders to acknowledge and address knowledge and skill gaps within their teams – and to invest in their continuing professional development and wellbeing."

Ramroop called for practice bosses to recognise the ‘amazing opportunity’ offered by the data.

‘It is an opportunity to listen more acutely and plan for a different future,’ she said. ‘It’s an opportunity for change.

‘I hope leadership will take, with both hands, these opportunities for reflection – if necessary, bringing in the expertise they need to help them – and do this better.’