Elite higher education institutions have a long way to go before achieving gender parity in compensation, according to a new report.
The report, published by the Boston-based nonprofit Eos Foundation, lays out a “power gap” among top earners at elite universities. Based on compensation information from top earners at major research universities across the country, the report found that just 24% of higher ed’s top earners are women, even though women earn 54% of Ph.D. degrees and 60% of master’s degrees.
The picture is even more dire for women of color, who account for 2.5% of the industry’s top earners despite earning 16% of the Ph.D. degrees.
The report also found that women account for just 10% of top-earning faculty members at universities, while about 93% of top-earning faculty members work in the areas of STEM, business and economics — male-dominated fields.
Universities and colleges are already taking issue with the report’s methodology. Just 48 of 130 institutions confirmed the compensation data and provided additional race information to Eos researchers. Despite some disagreements over research methodology, the findings show a lack of transparency around compensation at universities.
