The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has released the Gender Equality Scorecard based on the 2024-25 employer data. This offers a compelling snapshot of how Medical Research Institutes (MRIs) are progressing on key gender equity indicators.
Early insights show a consistent trend: SAGE member MRIs are outperforming non-members across pay equity, workplace safety and gender equality strategies, with the divide becoming increasingly pronounced.
This year’s pay equity results show a clear and accelerating divide between subscribers and non-subscribers.
The current gap for SAGE members sits at 4.5%, compared to 8.5% for non-members.
Comparing the 2024-25 figures with those of previous years, SAGE member medical research institutes have reduced their median total remuneration gender pay gap by nearly a third in a single year, outpacing non-members by a significant margin.
Members are taking action and more of it. Every member MRI has:
Members are also more proactive in transparency and root-cause identification than non-members:
All SAGE members have a formal policy or strategy for preventing and responding to sexual harassment and sex discrimination, and 83% have a risk management plan.
The data also highlights significant differences in how institutions handle sexual and sex-based harassment. Members demonstrate stronger safety and reporting practices, as they are more likely to:
Reporting to leadership also shows a clear divide. Members are more than three times as likely to report on sexual harassment to their CEO (50% vs 16%) and are more likely to provide updates to their governing body as well (33% vs 28%).
For many of these measures, members improved from the previous year. By contrast, several non-members saw declines, creating a widening gap in workplace safety transparency and commitments.
Members continue to outpace non-members in building the policy foundations needed for sustained gender equity progress.
A large majority of members (83%) have policies or strategies in place to support gender equality in retention. Among non-members, fewer than half (44%) have similar frameworks.
Additionally, all SAGE member institutions have policies or strategies to support:
The WGEA dataset confirms what SAGE has continued to observe over time: institutions that engage with structured gender equity frameworks, such as SAGE, achieve stronger and more measurable outcomes.
Medical Research Institutes that subscribe to SAGE are:
As further datasets become available, SAGE will continue to share insights to help institutions benchmark their progress and drive meaningful, measurable improvement in equity across the medical research sector.
The charts and tables on this page were last edited June 2026.
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