Gender-Based Wage Differences

In a study of more than 20,000 high-level administrators in 821 colleges and universities, it was found that women's salaries were lower than men's, even when institutional, individual, and positional characteristics were statistically controlled. Moreover, the negative effect of female incumbency on salary was greater in larger institutions and in private as compared with public colleges and universities. There was also limited evidence that the availability of more resources tended to increase the amount of gender-based wage discrimination. There was no effect of being in a university, a four-year college, or a two-year college. The results are consistent with the evidence of wage discrimination against women, and serve to identify some factors of organizational context that affect the extent of such discrimination.