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McMaster University

Available Studies

Many of the studies conducted by McMaster University have been survey-based. In 1989, a survey of faculty members was conducted that collected information on the academic and sociodemographic characteristics of faculty members, faculty member participation on committees and other forms of professional participation, teaching, perception of faculty integration, social engagement with colleagues of the same and opposite sex, and sexual harassment. Subsequently, the University augmented the information collected in the survey with information solicited from department chairs and the university Office of Institutional Analysis. Based on the information collected, McMaster University developed 31 recommendations to address the gender inequalities revealed in the data and presented these recommendations in a 1990 report.   

In 2014, McMaster University undertook a pay equity analysis using regression analysis on administrative data from 2012 and 2013. The regression used salaries in dollars, as well as gender, years at rank, years at rank squared, highest degree obtained, faculty, appointment steam, rank, and Canadian Research Chair status as controls. All faculty, instructors, tenure-stream, etc., and the "appointment stream" control controlled for differences in appointment type. The data analysis found statistically significant, systematic pay inequities. After controlling for factors other than gender, the analysis found that women received, on average, $2,992 and $4,037 less than their male colleagues in 2012 and 2013, respectively. As a result, in 2015 McMaster University adjusted the base salaries of all women faculty member's salaries by $3,515.

In 2016, the university performed the same regression analysis using data from 2016 and found that the remedy issued in 2015 "resolved the average annual salary differential found in the earlier study."1


1 McMaster University. Update on Gender Equity in MUFA Faculty Salaries Analysis. 2016.