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Representation and Pay Gap for Women in Selected College Administrative Posts, 2016

Almanac 2017 August 13, 2017

Women represented slightly more than half of all employees in three of six selected positions at colleges in 2016, but they still earned only 85 percent to 87 percent of what their male counterparts did. Women’s pay was closest to men’s in the position with the lowest female representation: top executive.

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Women represented slightly more than half of all employees in three of six selected positions at colleges in 2016, but they still earned only 85 percent to 87 percent of what their male counterparts did. Women’s pay was closest to men’s in the position with the lowest female representation: top executive.


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Representation and pay gap

Position FemaleMaleFemale representationMedian salary for womenMedian salary for menWomen’s salary as a percentage of men’s
Top executive 5,103 18,153 21.9% $228,228 $245,830 92.8%
Assistant dean 8,835 8,250 51.7% $101,452 $116,087 87.4%
Senior officer 71,817 120,582 37.3% $114,672 $131,243 87.4%
Department head 133,364 118,624 52.9% $69,654 $81,584 85.4%
Administrative officer 61,099 52,500 53.8% $85,417 $100,358 85.1%
Dean 31,166 51,564 37.7% $126,057 $151,650 83.1%

Note: Data are based on a survey conducted in late 2016 and early 2017 that gathered information on 191 executive and senior-level-administrative positions at 1,125 institutions. Both public and private nonprofit, and both two-year and four-year, institutions participated in the survey.

Source: Bichsel, Jacqueline, and McChesney, Jasper. The Gender Pay Gap and the Representation of Women in Higher Education Administrative Positions: The Century So Far. Research report. College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), February 2017. Available from www.cupahr.org/surveys/briefs.aspx.

A version of this article appeared in the August 18, 2017, issue.
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