More Than a Pipeline Problem: Evaluating the Gender Pay Gap in Canadian Academia from 1996 to 2016

Oct 15, 2026

This article evaluates gender pay gaps in Ontario’s public post-secondary education sector from 1996 to 2016 using Public Sector Salary Disclosure Data. The study finds widening disparities across all faculty ranks, with men paid on average more than women for all employees, university teaching staff, and deans. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition identifies the drivers behind gendered salary differentials. Pay gaps persist even after controlling for common explanations, including the “pipeline effect,” and women’s experience does not reduce observed gaps.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Employment and policy context

Academic setting and research approach

Results (reported summary)

Pay gaps across faculty ranks

Persistence after controlling for pipeline effects

Decomposition of salary differentials

CSSHE SCÉES Canadian Journal of Higher Education Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur Volume 49, No. 1, 2019, pages 1-21 More Than a Pipeline Problem: Evaluating the Gender Pay Gap in Canadian Academia from 1996 to 2016 Bessma Momani University of Waterloo Emma Dreher Syracuse University Kira Williams Wilfrid Laurier University Abstract This article measures gender pay gaps in Ontario’s public post-secondary education sector from 1996 to 2016 using the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Data. We find gaps widening among all faculty ranks. Men were paid on average 2.06%, 2.14%, and 5.26% more than their women colleagues for all employees, university teaching staff, and deans, respectively. We also conduct a BlinderOaxaca decomposition to measure the source of gendered salary differentials. Pay gaps persist during this time period despite controlling for the literature’s most common explanations, including the “pipeline effect.” Our results additionally imply that women’s years of experience in academia do not mitigate the observed pay gaps. Suggestions for future research include increasing the scope of our study to factor in finer details such as labour productivity. Résumé Cet article mesure les écarts de rémunération entre hommes et femmes actifs dans le secteur del’éducation postsecondaire publique del’Ontario entre 1996 et 2006 à l’aide des données de divulgation des salaires dans le secteur public. Au terme de cette étude, nous constatons que les écarts de rémunération CJHE / RCES Volume 49, No. 1, 2019 More Than a Pipeline Problem / B. Momani, E. Dreher, K. Williams 2 s’agrandissent à tous les niveaux du corps professoral. Sur la période étudiée, les hommes étaient payés en moyenne respectivement, 2,06%, 2,14%, et 5,26% de plus que leurs collègues femmespour tousles employés, le personnel enseignant des universités, et les doyens. Nous procédons également à unedécomposition de Blinder-Oaxaca afin de mesurer la source des écarts desalaire différenciés selon le genre. Les écarts de rémunération persistent pendant cette période, malgré les principales explications fournies par la littérature, notamment “l’effet de pipeline.” Nos résultats montrent en outre que les années d’expérience des femmes dans les universités n’atténuent pas les écarts de rémunération observés. Augmenter la portée de notre étude afinde prendre en compte des dimensions plus fines tels que la productivité au travail, est une des pistes futures de recherche qu’ouvrent cette analyse. Introduction Do gender pay gaps exist in Canadian society, and, if so, then how are they changing over time? Men, young people, and wealthier individuals tend to believe that enough policy attention has already been paid to gender equity, and 42% of women and 60% of men similarly assert that the government is currently doing enough to promote equal opportunities for women (Ipsos Public Affairs, 2017) . Policy attention to pay inequity has not diminished. Indeed, the 2018 Federal Budget released by the Trudeau government in February 2018 focused specifically on issues of gender equality, including the aim of improving the economic inclusion of women and advancing the status of women across all facets of Canadian society (Government of Canada, 2018) . It has been over three decades since the Employment Equity Act was passed in 1987, yet addressing the persistent gender pay gap remains as relevant as ever. This evaluation is particularly timely in the Province of Ontario—the home of many of Canada’s largest research universities, and the focus of additional, in-depth analysis—which marked the 30th anniversary of its provincial Pay Equity Actin 2017. In the decades since the Act was passed, the gender pay gap has narrowed from 36% to 26%—though there is still much work to be done in closing the gap altogether (Pay Equity Commission, 2018) . Our paper analyzes the existence and characteristics of gender pay gaps in one of our most pr

FAQs

What data and time period does the article use to measure gender pay gaps?

It measures gender pay gaps in Ontario’s public post-secondary education sector from 1996 to 2016 using the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Data.

What does the study find about pay gaps across faculty ranks?

Gaps widen among all faculty ranks, and men earn more on average than their women colleagues for all employees, university teaching staff, and deans.

Does controlling for the pipeline effect eliminate the observed pay gaps?

No. Pay gaps persist during the period even after controlling for common explanations, including the “pipeline effect,” and women’s years of experience do not mitigate the gaps.

Oct 15, 2026

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