Campus addresses salary inequity

The university has taken another step in a continuing effort to ensure gender equity in salary among its faculty.

Provost Peter Spear says ensuring equal pay among male and female faculty is not just a matter of equity and fairness; it is also a step toward a positive overall campus climate.

“Equity, and a positive climate in general, help us achieve and maintain our excellence in teaching, research and service,” Spear says. “Salary equity and a positive campus climate benefit everyone by helping to improve our institution.”

A 1992 study found a significant gap in salaries between male and female faculty members on campus. The study prompted the Faculty Senate to approve a plan to review the salaries of female faculty on an individual basis, resulting in 372 salary increases, totaling $830,000. The senate plan also asked for a follow-up study, which was completed in 1995.

The 1995 study revealed no aggregate gender gap, but it did recommend continued monitoring of the situation. Another study was completed in 1998, which also revealed no aggregate salary gap between male and female faculty members.

However, an outside consultant advised that while the 1998 study did not reveal an overall problem, gender inequities could still exist on an individual basis. That advice led to a recently completed exercise by the provost’s office to address any cases of gender pay inequity at UW–Madison.

“Our university is one of a handful of research institutions that can boast of a long commitment to gender pay equity,” says Linda Greene, associate vice chancellor in the Office of the Provost and coordinator of the exercise.

Deans and department chairs were asked to nominate women whose salaries should be reviewed. In addition, women could request their own review. Through this process, the salaries of 117 women – or about 23 percent of the female faculty — were carefully examined.

In each case, the school or college compared the female faculty member’s salary with three male faculty members with similar education, training, academic ranks, years since degree, specialization and academic unit. Academic units were also asked to consider a faculty member’s merit, based on their performance and ability to obtain grants, market demands for their specialties, and administrative duties. The provost’s office then reviewed each case to ensure academic units closely followed those guidelines.

As a result, 42 faculty members, or about 8 percent of the university’s female faculty population, received pay adjustments. The median pay adjustment was $5,000, which was retroactive to the beginning of the 2000-01 school year. Total payroll for female faculty increased by $200,000.

Spear says the exercise should be viewed as part of a continuous effort to address gender pay equity. Spear also says that discussions are underway to ensure that issues of equity become a routine consideration as part of the annual performance and salary review process. As part of the ongoing effort to address campus climate, we’ll be looking for ways to assess equity in salaries throughout the university community.

“We want to embed pay equity in our culture so that it is not necessary to carry out periodic special exercises to adjust for equity slippage,” Spear says.