“UBC gives all female tenure-stream faculty a 2 per cent raise”
The Globe and Mail (February 3, 2013)
The University of British Columbia is striking a blow at gender inequity in professors’ pay, promising all tenure-stream female faculty a 2 per cent pay hike by the end of the month – a rare approach expected to cost the school about $2-million this year.
The total cost of the initiative should prove much higher as the pay increase is retroactive to July 1, 2010. It comes as a result of a series of internal equity studies that found female professors of all ranks were paid $3,000 less on average, a discrepancy that could only be explained by gender after accounting for other factors.
The studies by the University’s Equity Office pegged the overall difference in average pay between genders at more than $14,000. But half that differential comes from the fact that while women make up 38 per cent of associate and assistant professors at UBC, they account for only 21 per cent of better-paid full professors. The fact there are more men in higher-paying faculties, such as Commerce, also contributes to the discrepancy.
After accounting for these and other factors, UBC decided on the 2 per cent hike to close the remaining $3,000 average gap. In an agreement with the UBC Faculty Association, they chose to compensate every woman professor – even those with salaries at the high end of the scale. As a result, the measure will close the average gap in pay, but may not fix each individual shortfall, Dr. Kuske said.
“You could have very high-performing women faculty and male faculty that you could compare, and even though that high-performer would be getting above-the-line, maybe she’s even performing better [than her male counterparts],” Dr. Kuske said. “Below-the-line takes care of some things, but it doesn’t really address the way discrimination can come in.”