Progress For Women In Academe,Yet Inequities Persist: Evidence from NSOPF:99

In this study, we use data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:99) to measure the unexplained wage gap between men and women in academe. We pay particular attention to how these unexplained wage gaps have changed over time by comparing the results from the 1999 survey to published results from previous national surveys and test for the sensitivity of these findings to the method used for measuring the unexplained wage gap and the type of institution or field being examined. We found that there has been a notable reduction in the overall unexplained wage gap between men and women, and that there is no longer any evidence of a statistically significant pay differential between men and women in doctoral-level or liberal arts institutions. The results also show that significant pay differentials still persist in some segments of academe, and that overall women with comparable qualifications to men have lower salaries.Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the Association for Institutional Research, Tampa, FL, May 2003, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Portland, OR, November 2003.