Gender and Pay Gaps in Paramedic Services Leadership in Ontario, Canada

OBJECTIVES: Research suggests that women are underrepresented in healthcare leadership and often earn less than men. This may be true in the emergency medical services (EMS) as well, but research on the subject is limited and specific data in Canada is scarce. This study aimed to estimate the gender and income distributions among leadership within Ontario's paramedic services. METHODS: We abstracted records for leadership positions (e.g., superintendent, commander, deputy chief, chief) from the Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure List. Two raters independently assessed the presumed binary gender of each individual, resolving discrepancies through consensus. Interrater agreement was measured using a kappa statistic. Chi-square tests compared the proportions of men and women at different leadership levels (entry, middle, executive). Income distributions were compared using parametric and non-parametric tests, stratified by leadership level. Gender accounted for 1.7% of the variance in total earnings. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the existence of both gender and pay gaps in leadership, the reasons for which are not immediately apparent and warrant further study.