The Gender Pay Gap for Physicists In and Outside the Academic World

A report from the Statistical Research Center at the American Institute for Physics finds that women faulty members in the field earn less than their male counterparts. For full professors of physics, women earned 8 percent less than men. And women who holds Ph.D.s in physics outside academia also earn less than men in similar positions with the same credentials.

The study found that for all physics faculty members and for women who hold physics Ph.D.s but work in the private sector, women earned, on average 18 percent less than male physicists. Even when factors such as age, employment sector, postdoctoral experience and other factors are taken into account, women still earn 6 percent less than men in physics.

Susan White, who analyzed the data in the report, stated that “the model says that if we have two people who are identical in every way, the woman will make, on average, 6 percent less than the man.”