Intersectional effects of gender and ethnicity? A quantitative analysis of bonus pay gap data for Shelford Hospital consultants.

Background: Male hospital consultants earn 13% more than their female counterparts. The intersectional effects of ethnicity and gender are not known.

Objective: To describe and analyse the mean bonus pay gap in terms of gender and ethnicity for consultants across the Shelford Group.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Hospitals in the Shelford Group.

Participants: Shelford Group hospitals.

Main Outcome Measures: Mean bonus pay gap for male vs female and White vs Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) consultants.

Results: Seven of the 10 Shelford Group hospitals provided data for financial year 2018/2019. The average mean bonus gender pay gap was in favour of male consultants (30%; range 12%-48%), and also favoured White consultants compared with BAME consultants (17%; range 7%-31%). The average mean bonus pay gap between White male and BAME male consultants was 20% (range 7%-34%) in favour of White male consultants, while that for White male and BAME female consultants was 46% (range 26%-60%) in favour of White male consultants.

Conclusions: Our data show for the first time that there may be an intersectional effect of gender and ethnicity associated with mean bonus pay for consultants. Action is needed to address this imbalance.