Study Shows Pay Gaps for Women, Minorities at U. of Missouri

Female faculty members at the University of Missouri tend to make $16,000 less than their male counterparts, while racial and ethnic minority faculty members also make $16,000 less than their majority counterparts, according to a study released at a recent university Faculty Council meeting.

Despite those differences, there is no gender, racial or ethnic equality in faculty salaries at most university departments, the study found.

The differences can be explained by three main elements — research productivity, rank and administrative service, said Mike Urban, co-chairman of the Chancellor’s Status of Women Committee.

Male faculty members tend to have 3.5 more years of experience at the university than female faculty and earn more because of that experience — not necessarily because of unfair treatment by the institution, the study concluded.

Male faculty members were more likely than females to reach the rank of full professor and were more likely to have higher productivity, the Columbia Missourian reported.

Linda Reeder, chairwoman of the Status of Women Committee in the College of Arts and Science, said she did not think the study adequately answered her committee’s concerns about salary inequity for associate professors. She said she is hopeful the university will continue to commission studies on gender pay gaps.

Urban encouraged the administration and Provost Garnett Stokes to use the study to prompt a discussion of the issue.

“What we would really like to do is basically explore that a little bit further and use this study as a starting point for a broader discussion about these things so that we can sort of help make the institution a little bit stronger,” he said.

Faculty in the School of Medicine and the School of Law were not included in the study because their salaries are determined by different factors. Non-tenure-track faculty and part-time faculty also were not included in the study.