Which 'Levers' Should Universities Pull To Achieve Gender Equity?
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New research into gender pay equity in Aotearoa New Zealand universities from the University of Canterbury (UC) explores interventions that will improve representation of women at higher levels of academia and therefore address pay equity.
"Levers of change: Using mathematical models to compare gender equity interventions in universities" by Professors Alex James and Ann Brower was published by Royal Society Open Science today. The research builds on the authors' previous work published in 2020 which found that over her career, a woman employed on academic staff at a New Zealand university can expect to earn about $400,000 less than a man.
"It's not new to find a gender pay gap; we've known this for decades," Professor Brower says. "What's important now is to find out what to do about it. Our research is globally unique because we measured research performance and put people into categories. From there we could find out which of these three levers works best for the different categories. So, our research should give universities a plan of action."
The study was the first of its kind to differentiate between moderate and high achieving researchers, based on national Performance Based Research Fund data. The authors concluded that for academics who focused on research, fairer hiring practices would influence pay parity, but for moderately achieving researchers, changes to promotions processes would have a positive change impact.
The authors argue that time will not bridge the gender representation gap in academia and call for bold action across three levers of change-hiring, promotion and attrition.
The study found that the women made up 25% of professors at UC, much improved from 3% in 2005 but still a long way behind men at the top academic level. The gap persists despite women making up more than 50% of postgraduate students in many disciplines for many years, yet remaining over-represented at the levels of lecturer and senior lecturer. UC was representative of the tertiary sector.
More information: Alex James et al, Levers of change: using mathematical models to compare gender equity interventions in universities, Royal Society Open Science (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220785
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