More Than a Pipeline Problem: Evaluating the Gender Pay Gap in Canadian Academia from 1996 to 2016

Abstract

This article measures gender pay gaps in Ontario's public post-secondary education sector from 1996 to 2016 using the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Data. We find gaps widening among all faculty ranks. Men were paid on average 2.06%, 2.14%, and 5.26% more than their women colleagues for all employees, university teaching staff, and deans, respectively. We also conduct a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to measure the source of gendered salary differentials. Pay gaps persist during this time period despite controlling for the literature's most common explanations, including the "pipeline effect." Our results additionally imply that women's years of experience in academia do not mitigate the observed pay gaps. Suggestions for future research include increasing the scope of our study to factor in finer details such as labour productivity.

Association of Physician Characteristics With Perceptions and Experiences of Gender Equity in an Academic Internal Medicine Department

“…6,7,8 Despite 23 years of numerical equality between women and men in medical school, contemporary Canadian data demonstrate gender disparities in pay, leadership, and harassment for women physicians and academics. 9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 These data suggest that additional factors, beyond the number of female physicians available to enter leadership tracks and the awareness of the gender gap, contribute to ongoing inequities.…”

Whiteness, Power and the Politics of Demographics in the Governance of the Canadian Academy

“…There is broad agreement in the literature focussing on equity, diversity and inclusion in places of work that accurate demographic data are critical in identifying barriers to participation and advancement in public and private institutions (see, for example, al Shaibah, 2014; Bates et al, 2017; Callahan et al, 2018; Malik et al, 2018; Momani et al, 2019; Mowatt et al, 2016; Nielsen et al, 2005; Nieuwenhuis et al, 2012; Ornstein et al, 2007; Weinberg, 2008). Fifteen years ago, the Ontario Human Rights Commission determined that “appropriate data collection is necessary for effectively monitoring discrimination, identifying and removing systemic barriers, ameliorating historical disadvantage and promoting substantive equality” within workplaces (2005: 42).…”

“…Important attempts have been made by scholars to address this insufficiency of publicly available demographic and employment data from Canadian universities. A number of such studies involve data collected by Statistics Canada, as well as data collected from targeted surveys (see Abu-Laban et al, 2010; Abu-Laban et al, 2012; Momani et al, 2019; Ramos and Li, 2017; Ramos and Wijesingha, 2017). However important these studies are, they have limitations.…”

“…A number of such studies involve data collected by Statistics Canada, as well as data collected from targeted surveys (see Abu-Laban et al, 2010;Abu-Laban et al, 2012;Momani et al, 2019;Ramos and Li, 2017;Ramos and Wijesingha, 2017). However important these studies are, they have limitations.…”

Care Work and Academic Motherhood: Challenges for Research and Tenure in the Canadian University

“…Further, although women made up 40% of full-time faculty members, according to the 2017 University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS) Statistics Canada survey, 1 men overwhelmingly dominated the ranks of full and associate professors (University Affairs, 2017). The concentration of men in full and associate positions has meant that they remain the top earners and in top leadership positions, while the gap for women in these positions is the largest (Momani et al, 2019). Women's experiences on and toward the tenure track are further challenged by gendered expectations of care-both at home and at work.…”