We've all heard the statistic that women make x cents on the male dollar.
(x can be anywhere from 70 cents to 90 cents, and it depends on race
and socioeconomic class). But how often do you really get to compare
actual numbers?
Here's the URL for a database of College and University salary levels,
by rank and gender. There is also a section on representation of ethnic
minorities.
http://www.ed.asu.edu/aaup/ntlf.html
Not surprisingly, women consistently make less than men of the same rank
(there are a few exceptions, but they have very small n, and are not
statistically significant. Conversely, all cases with large n show a
genuine male advantage).
But what caughy my eye was that the *percentage* difference between male
and female salary level is not so different across the ranks. I expected
(over-optimistically, it seems) that the gap would be closing since more
women are now filtering into professorships. I figured there was no hope
for the senior levels, but at least for assistant professors, there would
be less of a gap. Not so.
(Keep in mind that the database is for ALL professorships-- not just
science. I'm not sure how science would relate to the whole-- ie, would
it be "better" or "worse" on average).
So my question to the other Wisenetters is this: what about industry?
Is the gap closing for women in these positions? Does anyone have
statistics on salary level by gender in their corporation?-- perhaps
we could compile a small, admittedly nonscientific study of our own.
Kim Allen
UCSD Physics Dept.