VII. Salaries
Fig. 7-B Female Salaries as a Percentage of Male Salaries
Female to Male Average Salary Ratios – Change from 2010-11 to 2012-13 for Non-public doctoral universities in Massachusetts
2012-13 Comparison of F:M average salary ratios at local non-public doctoral universities
History of F:M salary ratios based on AAUP salary surveys
Overall salary levels: BU vs. other AAU private universities
Overview
Some BU historyConsiderable progress has been made at BU in recent years with respect to both salary levels and female to male salary ratios, although this is somewhat difficult to track closely over more than the last several years, since BU refused to participate in the AAUP annual salary survey under the regime of former University President John Silber. Overall, during the period when salary information was not disclosed to the AAUP, BU salary levels declined relative to those of its peers, and female salaries declined relative to male salaries. There has been, however, a substantial effort—spearheaded by Provost Campbell prior to the arrival of President Brown and then taken up by the new administration—to reduce salary inequities and to make BU salaries more competitive overall. One should not lose sight of the fact, however, that the recent increases in salary equity do not (and cannot) address the accumulated economic disadvantage to senior faculty of inequitably low salaries (and corresponding contributions to retirement funds, etc.) over long periods of time.
Progress at BU in relation to peersOf course, BU has also not been alone in striving to reduce gender-based salary inequities. The gender gap in salaries has been diminishing progressively elsewhere, as well. Figure 7-B shows the ratio of average female to male salaries, broken down by division and rank within BU for 2010-11 (the most recent information available to us).
The next chart shows the change in F:M average salary ratios at BU and at other private doctoral universities in Massachusetts between 2010-11 and 2012-13, based on the AAUP salary surveys.
Also illustrated is how the F:M salary ratios by rank compare with those at other private doctoral universities in Massachusetts.
Changes over the longer term — since 1984 (although BU information was not reported during an extended period of time) — are illustrated in the final set of graphs.
Gender equity in salaries in the natural sciences and engineering at BUThe females in the Natural Sciences had much greater salary equity than those in other divisions of CAS. In fact, as of 2010-11, females actually had higher salaries at the level of Full Professor and Assistant Professor (106% and 101.1% of the average male salaries, respectively), and were nearly equal in salary to males at the rank of Associate Professor, where the ratio stood at 97.8%. In Sargent College, female average salaries were higher than those of males at for Full Professors and Associate Professors (female Full Professors earned 108% of males, on average; for Associate Professors, that ratio was 109.3%); female Assistant Professors earned, on average, 96.3% of what their male counterparts earned. In Engineering, female Associate and Assistant Professors had salaries quite close to those of their male peers (102.2%, 97.6%), although the female Full Professors in Engineering (very few in number, however) had lower salaries than the males.
In summary, although women were paid considerably less than men in the Humanities and Social Sciences, particularly at some ranks, as shown in Figure 7-B, they were actually paid more than men at some ranks in the CAS Natural Sciences and in the College of Engineering.
ConclusionsShown below are the Female:Male salary ratios for CAS (we do not have breakdowns by division), ENG, and SAR as of 2011-12 (one year beyond the data provided for this report and illustrated in the figures accompanying this section). Note that even with Female:Male salary ratios above 100% in the Natural Sciences, the overall Female:Male salary ratio for the College of Arts & Sciences as a whole remains just below 87% at the rank of Full Professor.
Female to Male Salary Ratios as of FY 2012
Based on data distributed by the Provost’s Office via Faculty Council. Percentages are omitted in categories for which there are fewer then four faculty members for a given rank and gender category.
PROF ASCP ASTP CAS 86.9% 91.3% 96.1% ENG ** 101.4% 99.5% SAR 106.4% ** **
Fig. 7-B Female Salaries as a Percentage of Male Salaries
Female to Male Average Salary Ratios
BU female and male salaries in relation to those of other non-public doctoral universities in Massachusetts
The ratios of female:male salaries at BU are, on average, below those of our local peers at the ranks of PROF and ASCP.
- Salaries are more competitive for male PROF's and ASCP's than for females at those ranks (when compared with what others in those same groups earn at other private universities in Massachusetts). The average male PROF at BU earns 90.1% of what his counterpart earns, on average, at other private doctoral universities, whereas the average female PROF earns only 87.3% of what other females at her rank earn elsewhere.
- At the rank of ASTP, the female salaries are more competitive than those of males.
2012-13 Comparison of F:M average salary ratios at local non-public doctoral universities
History of F:M salary ratios based on AAUP salary surveys
(note: there was an extended period when BU did not report its figures)
Comparison of overall salary levels by rank: BU vs. other AAU private universities
(illustration based on AAUP data for 2012-13 and produced using tools available on the website of the Chronicle of Higher Education)
F:M Salary ratios for Professors
Return to the main page for this Web report on the Status of Women in the Natural Sciences and Engineering at Boston University, Summer 2012 or jump to section:
<1> Female Representation among Tenured and Tenure-track Faculty: 1997 and 2007-2011
<2> Female Representation by Tenure Status
<3> Hiring Patterns
<4> Attrition
<5> Success in Tenure and Promotion
<6> Time at Rank
<7> Salaries
<8> Leadership Positions, 2010-11
<Conclusions>
