Pay Structure, Female Representation and the Gender Pay Gap among University Professors

This research uses data from a large Canadian research university to explore the sources of the gender pay gap. It is the first analysis of the joint impact on the pay gap of two recent factors: the increased use by universities of market supplements and the implementation of the Canada Research Chairs program. In addition, it considers both individual and structural determinants of the remuneration gap, something few other studies have done. We examine the contributions to the gap of the following: base pay, promotion to full professor, access to market supplements, and amounts of market supplements. We show that the effects of these factors vary with the proportions of female faculty members within units and that the magnitude of gender differences may vary with the degree of formalization in remuneration practices.