Examining the Gender Pay Gap at the University of Texas

The University of Texas at Austin reports that it has made progress in closing the gender gap in faculty and staff pay but admits that is still has a lot of work to do.

The data shows that the average salary for male faculty and staff at the university was $9,700 more than the average for women. Of the 100 highest-paid employees at the university, only 20 are women.

In the 290 academic and administrative departments at the university, men made more than women in 202 departments. In some cases the  gender gap was quite large. For example, men at the university’s School of Law made, on average, $108,000 more than women. In the department of mechanical engineering, the average pay for men was $51,689 more than the average pay for women. In the department of molecular bioscience, men earned $49,626 more than women. The university points out that when factors such as faculty rank, years or service, and academic discipline are considered, the faculty pay gap is “non-significant.”

Gina M. Chen, an assistant professor of journalism at the university told The Daily Texan, that “pay is how we quantify somebody’s worth in our society. The reason why equal pay is important isn’t really necessarily just the money itself, but it’s because that’s how we express value.”

Dr. Chen is a graduate of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mass communication from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Dr. Chen joined the faculty at the University of Texas in 2014.