On 15th of November is the European Equal Pay Day. On behalf of fighting against the Gender Pay Gap, RESET rises awareness on how the gender pay gap influences our societies, and academia specifically.

Throughout the EU, the Gender Pay Gap, still is an issue. Data from 2022 shows, that on average, women earn 13% less per hour than men (destatis, 2022). This equals to a difference around one month and a half of salary per year on average. Germany has one of the highest gaps at 18%, surpassed only by Estonia (21%). In contrast, countries like Luxembourg, Italy, Romania, and Belgium have significantly lower gaps, with Luxembourg even reporting higher average wages for women than men. The gender pay gap in the EU has narrowed since 2015, dropping from 16% to 13%.

What is the gender pay gap, and which factors contribute to it?

The gender pay gap refers to the discrepancy between an average income of men and women within the same occupation. As such, it is an expression of gender inequality in the workplace. Hereby, the phenomenon has been widely researched in the private sector, but is also prevalent in academia (Kortendiek et al., 2021; Magda et al., 2024; Samaniego et al., 2023). The absence of women in decision-making positions in academia contributes to the effect of the gender pay gap (Rosa et al., 2021). But also the so called “motherhood wage penalty” is an effect that contributes to the gender pay gap. The “motherhood wage penalty” refers to the wage disparity that mothers face compared to non-mothers, often attributed to factors such as career breaks or reduced work hours due to family responsibilities Magda et al., 2024. This effect is documented for Polish academia, where studies show that mothers earn between 18–20% less in basic incomes than non-mothers. The penalty is partially explained by lost human capital during child-related career interruptions, impacting long-term salary growth, career advancement, and research productivity. In contrast, men often experience a “fatherhood premium,” seeing increases in their earnings when they become fathers, especially when considering total income from various sources (ibid.). Besides the motherhood penalty, the gender pay gap in academia is influenced by several interconnected, systemic factors (Kortendiek et al., 2021; Magda et al., 2024): Sectoral and occupational segregation leads to disparities as men more often occupy higher-paying, STEM-related fields, while women are more represented in lower-paying disciplines. Differences in research productivity also play a role; male academics tend to have higher publication and grant acquisition rates, aided by lower teaching and service responsibilities, which boosts their earnings. Additionally, institutional characteristics such as the type and prestige of academic institutions affect pay, with men more frequently working in better-paying environments. Gender biases further exacerbate the gap, as male researchers are often perceived as more competent, receiving more mentorship and higher salary offers. Finally, men earn more supplemental income from external sources, widening the gap when all income sources are considered. These factors collectively contribute to sustained pay disparities in academia.

What do universities need to do about it?

As we highlight in RESET’s report “Diversity in gatekeeping positions: lessons learnt and guidelines (Niebel, 2024), universities need to be transparent about salaries and any discrepancies related to gender. For this purpose, it is necessary to monitor salary structures and career advancement practices in order to be able to intervene if necessary. Therefore, impacting the gender pay gap, is a key indicator of change (O’Connor & Irvine, 2020).
For this purpose one impactful strategy are gender pay audits, as they reveal and track potential inequities in salaries and salary progression related to career stages (Galligan et al. 2021).

About the Gender Pay Audit:

A gender pay audit is an internal, institutional process designed to identify disparities in hourly rates and annual earnings between male and female academics, especially at comparable senior levels (Galligan et al., 2021). It involves assessing pay progression, making visible how salaries shift through promotions or appointments, and examining any gender differences in these changes. Additionally, it considers the time spent at various career levels, as this can also contribute to gender pay disparities. Special retention or increment provisions beyond standard promotion protocols are reviewed as part of the audit, as these can introduce risks for equitable pay decisions.

What are the expectations?

• By making visible gender differences in pay at different career stages, the need for readjustment becomes transparent and lends weight to measures to prevent and eliminate the gender pay gap.
• The process itself may present obstacles in sorting out data by gender (Galligan et al., 2021). This may indicate that procedures should be developed and applied to identify earnings by gender.
• Accordingly, initiating the transparency of incomes and the gender pay gap can help improve gender monitoring.
• Salary transparency can also improve the negotiating basis of salary for persons who are less familiar with salary negotiations. This can have a positive impact from an intersectional perspective, as both first generation academics and women tend to negotiate less salary.

Sources

Destatis: https://www.destatis.de/Europa/DE/Thema/Bevoelkerung-Arbeit-Soziales/Arbeitsmarkt/GenderPayGap.html

Galligan, Yvonne, McMahon, Tony and Tom Millar. 2021. “Gender Pay gap reporting: lessons from Queen’s University, Belfast and Trinity College, Dublin”. In Drew, Eileen & Siobhán Canavan (Eds), The Gender-Sensitive University. A Contradiction in Terms? pp. 79–96. London/New York: Routledge.

Kortendiek, Magda, Iga; Bieliński, Jacek; Feldy, Marzena; Knapińska, Anna (2024) : The Gender Pay Gap at the Early Stages of Academic Careers, IZA Discussion Papers, No. 17063, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn.

Niebel, Viktoria (2024). Diversity in gatekeeping positions: lessons learnt and guidelines. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10532887

O’Connor, Pat & Gemma Irvine. 2020. “Multi-Level State Interventions and Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions: The Irish Case” Administrative Sciences 10, no. 4: 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci10040098

Rosa, Rodrigo, Drew, Eileen & Siobhán Canavan. 2021. An overview of gender inequal-ity in EU universities. In Drew, Eileen and Siobhán Canavan (Eds), The Gender-Sensitive University. A Contradiction in Terms? pp. 1–17. London/New York: Routledge.

Samaniego, C., Lindner, P., Kazmi, M. A., Dirr, B. A., Kong, D. T., Jeff-Eke, E., & Spitzmueller, C. (2023). Higher research productivity= more pay? Gender pay-for-productivity inequity across disciplines. Scientometrics, 128(2), 1395-1407.

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