A study conducted at the University of Virginia found that women faculty are paid on average $3,638 less than their male colleagues of similar rank and tenure. The study is authored by Sarah Turner University Professor of Education and Economics and Kerry Abrams, a professor of law and vice provost for faculty affairs.
Professor Turner stated that the study is “significant in the statistical sense that these is a residual difference in the salaries of make and female faculty members that is not explained by field, rank. and experience.” The authors stated that their research did not determine the reasons for the gender gap in faculty salaries and urges additional research to determine the cause of the gap.
Professor Turner said that “salary disparities between genders can result from various causes, including differential institutional practices in salary setting, differential opportunities or work assignments, variations in faculty productivity, or some combination of these factors.”
Professor Turner has taught at the University of Virginia since 1997. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and earned a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan.