This text is part of the special Research section
A survey conducted by a professor from Polytechnique Montréal reveals significant disparities between the university incomes of men and women. The conclusions of this study by Catherine Beaudry will be published in a complete chapter of the book Women in the Academywhich will appear by early fall.
A survey was conducted in 2017 with over 5,000 respondents from various institutions across Canada. And despite remuneration set by fair agreements, disparities remain between the sexes of the occupants of different administrative positions. “We wondered what explained the differences in wages. And we went to dig into the bonuses that we can receive for different tasks or performances,” summarizes the full professor at Polytechnique Montréal and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Management and Economics of Innovation.
Mme Beaudry co-authored this article with Laurence Solar-Pelletier and Carl St-Pierre. “In what is governed by an agreement, there are no longer any significant differences in terms of wage disparities”, notes the professor first.
The three researchers then looked at market, chair, performance bonuses and consulting fees. Market bonuses are used to attract or retain candidates working in an establishment. Performance bonuses, offered in some universities, are offered to researchers who publish in different journals. “We also went to see a very important and often overlooked factor. These are the amounts that the professors will obtain in other contracts, therefore in consulting fees, ”adds Ms.me Beaudry.
Significant disparities
They are 10.3% of men to hold an administrative position of director of department or a higher position, against 6.9% of women. “And men receive an average of $7,000 more per year,” notes Mme Beaudry.
When we look at the other type of administrative position, which includes program, laboratory or research center directors, we achieve gender parity. “But 41% of men will receive a bonus, against 34% of women,” adds the professor.
The researchers noted few significant differences in pulpit and performance bonuses. However, significant disparities have been identified by observing market premiums. Men make roughly $13,000 in market premiums, compared to $7,300 for women, Ms.me Beaudry. “Men fetch sums that are much larger than those fetched by women,” she says.
“If we only consider consulting fees, we see that among the 10% of those who earn the largest amounts, women receive 47.2% of the fees that men receive,” said Ms.me Beaudry.
Several factors
To understand the causes of these disparities, the researchers looked at several factors. In particular, they checked whether age, taking a local or international sabbatical, the number of dependent children or adults, leave or career breaks and their duration had any impact on salary. .
“When we compare the overall salary by gender by looking at each of the indicators one after the other, we quickly notice that women lose out. On the other hand, if we take all these factors into consideration at the same time, we can see the effect of a factor on the salary when all the other factors are equal”, specifies the researcher. So, controlling for all variables in a regression analysis, for “most factors, we don’t find significant differences between men and women, when controlling for all other possible effects,” says Ms.me Beaudry. However, this excludes market premiums and consulting fees, she adds.
Solutions
In order to reduce the wage gap between the sexes, establishments have set up certain initiatives. Mme Beaudry mentions the case of Laval University, in Quebec, which introduced a measure related to maternity leave several years ago. “When a woman comes back from her maternity leave and asks for a promotion, it is granted retroactively. She therefore does not lose years in terms of salary. They were pioneers,” she says. She adds that Polytechnique Montréal adopted a similar policy a few years ago. “The idea is not to penalize women for their maternity leave,” she says.
Mme Beaudry believes that it would also be possible to reduce the disparities linked to market bonuses by integrating them into the collective agreements of the universities. “Sometimes, this bonus is incorporated into the salary. And when there are percentage pay raises, that bonus stays for life. Over a 35-year career, it makes a big difference, ”she illustrates. Other establishments, on the contrary, eliminate this bonus gradually over the years.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.