Closing a glaring gender pay gap in our universities won't just be a matter of waiting, finds a new study. Photo / Dean Purcell
Closing a glaring gender pay gap in our universities won't just be a matter of waiting, finds a new study. Photo / Dean Purcell
Closing a glaring gender pay gap in our universities won't just be a matter of waiting, finds a new study that suggests women will keep facing inequity for decades without bold action.
But the research, drawing on mathematical modelling, also offers interventions universities can take to tackle the long-standing problem – through a mix of hiring more female researchers, but also promoting women in the same way as men.
According to the most recent figures, women account for more than half of university lecturers – the lowest-paid academic staff active in research – but just a quarter of professors, who are the highest paid.
Earlier research by the same group, showed that the average male researcher also earned more in a lifetime than the average female researcher, with research score and age accounting for only 40 to 70 per cent of the pay gap, depending on the field.
Overall, female academics were likely to be paid $400,000 less than their male counterparts throughout their career.
"A common response is that we just need to wait, 30 years ago very few women were employed as academic staff so of course there will still be fewer at the highest levels," said Professor Alex James, of the University of Canterbury.
However, she said, we couldn't expect the problem to fix itself over time.
"Without serious and concerted efforts, universities are not going to see 50 per cent of people at the highest rank being female - ever."
In their study, published today in the journal Royal Society Open Science, James and co-author Professor Ann Brower used recent data on hiring, leaving and promotion rates to predict gender representation in 20 or 50 years' time.
"Using data from the University of Canterbury, if we carry on as we currently are doing, in 20 years' time around 35 per cent of professors will be female - and it won't change much after that," James said.
But she said the study's real novelty was in its dataset, enabling them to measure what most studies on the gender gap haven't to date: research productivity.
Using data from New Zealand's Performance-Based Research Fund scoring system, they split the academic population into two groups: research focused and those who focused equally on research, teaching and service.
"For the majority of the population, that focus as much on teaching as they do on research, men are far more likely to be promoted and so they reach the higher ranks quicker than women," James said.
"In the research focused group, we need to concentrate on hiring more women to reach gender parity."
James said it was critical that universities ensured women focused on all aspects of university work being promoted just as their male counterparts were.
"At the moment this isn't true for the majority of academic staff," she said.
"Also, we need to hire more women - especially those with higher research productivity."
While universities were making moves to address the gap, James saw the first step should be to actually acknowledge and quantify it.
"Without serious and concerted efforts, universities are not going to see 50 per cent of people at the highest rank being female - ever," Professor Alex James says. Photo / Supplied
"We'd like to see all universities commit to publishing an annual gender and ethnicity pay gap report so we can at least see how big the problem is and track the progress in fixing it."
She added the gender gap wasn't one unique to New Zealand universities – although some institutions overseas had taken some meaningful measures.
"At Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, many vacancies are only open to women for the first six months of advertising," James said.
"In Australia, the SAGE program is helping improve gender equity in science.
"However, overall progress is slow in most places."
Universities New Zealand-Te Pōkai Tara chief executive Chris Whelan said our eight universities were "committed" to achieving gender equity among staff, but agreed with the study's key finding, that time wouldn't bridge the gap.
"All have interventions of one sort or another in place, including around hiring, promotion and attrition, as the authors recommend," Whelan said.
Measures include targets, including for women professors; tackling unconscious biases in hiring and promotion; mentorship and other support; flexible and inclusive work arrangements; and ongoing monitoring and reporting.
"Collectively, through Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara, universities run a Women in Leadership programme for staff," he said.
"This supports, encourages and contributes to the development of women who are, or aspire to be, leaders within the university sector."
