It’s Not Just a Pay Gap - Quantifying the Gender Wage and Pension Gap at Post-Secondary Institution in Canada

Oct 15, 2026

Gender pay gaps in academia can produce long-run disadvantages that extend beyond salaries into retirement outcomes. Using a Canadian post-secondary institution as a case study, the study simulates how reported salary differences translate across multiple academic career trajectories and into pension earnings. A starting wage gap under $9,000 yields a $300,000–$400,000 wage gap over a career, plus a $148,000–$259,000 pension gap, totaling $454,000–$660,000 depending on rank achieved.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background

It’s Not Just a Pay Gap: Quantifying the Gender Wage and Pension Gap ata Post-Secondary Institution in Canada Tracy Smith-Carrier King’s University College Marcie Penner King’s University College Aaron L. Cecala Western University Carol Agócs Western University Abstract What is the impact of the gender pay gap in academia over the course of a career and retirement? To quantify this impact, we used a Canadian post-secondary institution as a case study and simulated the effects of the reported difference in salary across multiple academic career trajectories. A starting wage gap of less than $9,000 resulted in a $300,000–$400,000 gender wage gap over the course of a career, and a further $148,000–$259,000 gender pension gap, for a total gender pension and wage gap of $454,000–$660,000, depending on the rank achieved. Thus, focusing on gender gaps in salary alone leads to a substantial underestimation of the long-term effects of the gender gap. Keywords: gender equity, pay anomaly, salary anomaly, pension contributions, universities, faculty salaries Résumé Quel est l’impact de l’écart salarial entre les hommes et les femmes en milieu universitaire au cours d’une carrière et à laretraite? Pour quantifier cet impact, nous avons réalisé une étude de cas sur un établissement d’enseignement supérieur canadien et avons simulé les effets de la différence déclarée de salaire à travers de multiples trajectoires de carrière à l’université . Un écart salarial initial de moins de 9 000 $ a ainsi engendré un écart salarial entre les sexes de 300 000 $ à 400 000 $ au cours d’une carrière ainsi qu’un écart de 148 000 $ à 259 000 $ à la retraite, pour un écart total de 454 000 $ à 660 000 $ entre les sexes pour le salaire et la retraite combinés, selon le rang atteint. Ainsi, la considération des écarts entre les sexes sur la base du salaire seulement mène à une sous-estimation substantielle des effets à long terme de la disparité entre les sexes. Mots-clés : égalité des sexes, anomalie de paie, anomalie salariale, cotisations de retraite, universités, salaires des professeurs et professeures Introduction Despite recent movements to rectify the prevailing gender wage gap, men consistently make more money than women for the same work, a pervasive problem that spans professions and specializations. Although a number of universities have made strides toward closing the gap in their respective institutions (e.g. , at the University of Manitoba; see Shirle, 2019), more work is needed to not only eliminate such disparities but to address the consequences of such differences over time. Although ample literature documents the substantial gender wage gaps in Canadian universities (e.g. , Canadian Association of University Teachers [CAUT], 2018; Doucet et al. , 2012; Gatto et al. , 2018; Momani et al. , 2019), as has research in institutions elsewhere (e.g. , Currie & Hill, 2013), few have researched the extent to which such gaps impact professors’ pension benefits over the life Canadian Journal of Higher Education | Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur 51:2 (2021) course. The purpose of this study is to not only examine the long-term effects of the gender pay gap, but also differences in pension earnings by gender, using a case study of a Canadian post-secondary institution. Background In 2018, in Canada, women employees between the ages of 25 and 54 earned $4.13 less than their male counterparts per hour; meaning that for every dollar earned by men that year, women earned $0.87. This translated in 2018 into an average real hourly wage rate of $26.92 for women and $31.05 for men (employees aged 25 to 54), a 13 .3% difference based on gender (Pelletier et al. , 2019) . Data from 2017 indicate that men made on average $59,200, while women made $40,600; a difference of $18,600 (alternatively, the median salary in 2017 was $33,400 for women and $47,500 for men; a difference of $14,100) . Although, on the whole, the wa

FAQs

What is the study’s main research purpose?

To examine long-term effects of the gender pay gap, including gender differences in pension earnings, using a Canadian post-secondary institution as a case study.

How does the paper estimate the gender wage and pension gap?

It simulates the effects of reported salary differences across multiple academic career trajectories and retirement outcomes.

What do the results indicate about focusing on salary gaps alone?

Accounting for salary differences only substantially underestimates the long-term impacts of the gender gap, because pension consequences add a large additional disparity.

Oct 15, 2026

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