Inequities in Academic Compensation by Gender: A Follow-up to the National Faculty Survey Cohort Study

Abstract

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and do not reflect the views of the National Institutes of Health, the funders of this study. None of the funders were involved in the design of the study; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or the decision to approve publication of the finished manuscript.Previous presentations: National Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, San Diego CA, April 18, 2014. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript sought to assess longitudinal patterns by gender in compensation, and to understand factors associated with these differences in a longitudinal cohort.Method-A 17-year longitudinal follow-up of the National Faculty Survey was conducted with a random sample of faculty from 24 U.S. medical schools. Participants employed full-time at initial and follow-up time periods completed the survey. Annual pre-tax compensation during academic year 2012-13 was compared by gender. Covariates assessed included race/ethnicity; years since first academic appointment; retention in academic career; academic rank; departmental affiliation; percent effort distribution across clinical, teaching, administrative, and research duties; marital and parental status; and any leave or part-time status in the years between surveys.Results-In unadjusted analyses, women earned a mean of $20,520 less than men (P = .03); women made 90 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. This difference was reduced to $16,982 (P = .04) after adjusting for covariates. The mean difference of $15,159 was no longer significant (P = .06) when adjusting covariates and for those who had ever taken a leave or worked part-time.Conclusions-The continued gender gap in compensation cannot be accounted for by metrics used to calculate salary. Institutional actions to address these disparities include both initial appointment and annual salary equity reviews, training of senior faculty and administrators to understand implicit bias, and training of women faculty in negotiating skills.Multiple studies over the past 20 years have demonstrated salary inequities disadvantaging female faculty in academic medical careers compared with their male counterparts. 1-5 These inequities were attributed to factors known to be the major determinants of compensation, including part-time status, specialty choice, and work distribution between administrative, teaching, research, and clinical work. However, studies, including our own, 1,2,5,6 have demonstrated that even controlling for these differences, women continue to be compensated less for the same work compared to men.There are limited data indicating whether awareness of these salary gaps has resulted in changes to compensation processes to reduce and eliminate these inequities. Recent data suggest that for new faculty, even those with similar academic backgrounds and research funding success, gender gaps in compensation early in their careers are already presen...

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