Addressing Gender Equity in Nonfaculty Salaries

While over one hundred studies have been conducted at both the institutional and national levels to determine if male and female faculty receive different levels of pay, there are very few published studies that have addressed similar gender equity concerns for other groups of academic employees. This research illustrates ways in which gender equity studies can be performed on noninstructional employees such as operating staff (OS) and professional/administrative staff (PAS) in higher education. The article addresses the selection of variables for inclusion in the multiple regression model, the alternative approaches for measuring the unexplained wage gap, and the methods that could be utilized for adjusting women's salaries when inequities are found to exist. To illustrate these concepts, data on the operating and professional/administrative staff at one institution are analyzed. It is found that experience and market differences account for about eighty percent of the pay difference between male and female professional/administrative staff and half of the pay difference for operating staff, and that the cost of adjusting women's salaries varies significantly across methods.