Faculty Salary Gender Equity Study
In spring 2023, the Provost charged the Associate Provost for Faculty and the Office of Institutional Research to conduct a quantitative salary equity study to examine gender equity in tenure-track faculty compensation. The completed Faculty Salary Gender Equity Study (NetID log-in required) is available to Northwestern faculty and staff.
Northwestern faculty salary increases are formally based on merit and on market rates for specific fields. The differences in market rates across fields, departments and schools create differences in salaries in different units, thus complicating studies of salary equity. This report is an attempt to investigate whether there may be salary differences between male and female faculty members that appear to be unrelated to market rates for specific fields, employment characteristics (such as length of time at Northwestern) and merit.
The salary gender equity study was a planned follow-up to a similar study conducted between 2015 and 2017. The intended timing of this follow-up study was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This study was guided by a Faculty Advisory Group (names below) who provided input on all aspects of the study including but not limited to sources of data, statistical methods, data and result display, and report format. Data and operational support were provided by the Office of Institutional Research and the Associate Provost for Faculty team in the Office of the Provost.
Faculty Advisory Group
Lori A. Beaman, Breen Family Professor, Economics, WCAS
Cynthia Ellen Coburn, Professor, Learning Sciences, Human Development and Social Policy, SESP
Larry Vernon Hedges, Board of Trustees Professor, Statistics and Social Policy, WCAS, SESP
Robert McDonald, Gaylord Freeman Distinguished Chair in Banking; Professor, Finance, KSM; member of the Northwestern Faculty Senate