Report reveals wage disparity

By Bimal Rajkomar
Daily Bruin Contributor

Female professors at UCLA are paid about 2.4 percent less than
male equivalent counterparts, according to a study released
Tuesday.

But male full professors earn more than their female
counterparts across all academic units, with the exception of the
physical sciences. At the associate professor level, the study
found salaries to be relatively balanced.

The study also found that women advance in their jobs slower,
but that many female assistant professors are actually paid more
than their male colleagues of equal rank.

A possible reason women are paid somewhat less overall is the
concentration of women is high in lower-paying departments such as
education and some of the humanities, the study said.

“The fact that the trend is not consistent is an important
finding. It goes against the perceptions that males are being paid
more, while the data shows that is not the case,” said Norman
Abrams, vice chancellor of academic personnel.

This first-ever campus gender equity report, “Gender
Equity Issues Affecting Senate Faculty at UCLA,” was issued
following a six month study conducted by a committee appointed by
Abrams.

The Schools of Dentistry and Medicine were not included in the
study.

“We were pleased to see a lack of disparity in
salaries,” Abrams said. But, he expressed concern with the
difficulty that some women face in moving up the academic
ladder.

He noted that the preliminary study only included findings from
one year, so it was too early to speculate the causes of these
salary differences.

The report was a “good starting point,” Abrams
said.

“This landmark report provides the UCLA academic community
with a blueprint to develop a long-range strategic study of gender
equity at the university,” Chancellor Albert Carnesale said
in a statement.

“Clearly we must seek out and hire greater numbers of
qualified women while we improve our campus environment for female
faculty,” he said.

Carnesale announced he would immediately accept the
committee’s recommendation to create three joint
Administration-Academic Senate committees to examine additional
gender issues at UCLA that the committee was not able to address as
part of the study.

“I am really encouraged by the positive reaction by the
chancellor,” said Margaret Kivelson, professor of space
physics and co-chair of the UCLA Gender Equity Committee.

An analysis of 1999-2000 payroll data showed that female faculty
earn 2.4 percent less than male faculty when comparing individuals
within the same rank and department, and who have similar year of
hire or highest degree.

Kivelson attributed these differences to the fact that women
tend to be concentrated in lower-paying departments.

Some departments, such as the School of Engineering, Physical
Sciences and Andersen School of Business, had a particularly low
number of women she said.

“I have had almost no experience whatsoever. I have found
it perfectly equitable here,” said Assistant Professor Sarah
Tolbert, who teaches physical chemistry.

She said the UCLA department was very good, and that chemistry
typically has more women than other physical sciences.

But some professors don’t think the department is
responsible for the low numbers of women.

“I don’t think it’s because of the department
that there are few women,” said Maha Ashour-Abdalla,
professor of physics and director of the Center of Digital
Innovation. “I think it’s because girls are not
encouraged to enter the field.”

She said not many women are hired simply because not many women
apply, and that in her experience, she was treated as an equal.

On the other hand, some departments, such as psychology, have a
predominantly female faculty, resulting in a different atmosphere
for women.

“It’s my feeling in my department that things are
very fair,” said Assistant Professor Traci Mann, though she
has been at UCLA only a short time. “I have never had, nor
would I expect to have any (problems related to being a
woman).”

This report is more of a “snapshot” of the year
1999-2000, because salary information from past years is not in a
computer database and to access these records, multiple sources
would have to be used, Kivelson said.

To follow salaries over decades, researchers need a computer
database, which is something the report suggests pursuing.