The Persisting Gender Pay Gap in Higher Education

A new study from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) finds that there remains a significant pay gap for women in staff and faculty positions at colleges and universities in the United States.

Pay disparities for women administrators of all races/ethnicities persist. All female administrators except for Asian women continue to receive lower salaries overall than do White men who hold the same position.

There are two notable findings regarding faculty composition. First, more women are represented in non-tenure-track than in tenure-track faculty. Second, with each increase in rank, the proportions of women faculty decrease for both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty. This means that women faculty are over-represented in the lowest-paying and lowest-ranking positions.

Pay gaps within rank persist, particularly for women faculty at the professor level, regardless of tenure status. These gaps are most notable for female professors of color in non-tenure-track positions. The good news is that pay gaps for assistant and associate professors have narrowed over time, particularly for tenure-track faculty.

In all professional positions in higher education, women’s representation has increased from 58 percent to 61 percent since 2017. However, women of all races/ethnicities are paid less than their male counterparts.

Since 2017, women staff overall have been paid consistently and considerably less than White men. Pay equity is the same or worse now than in 2017 for Black women, Hispanic/Latina women, women of two or more races, and White women.