UMass Gender Pay Gap

The University of Massachusetts officials were first alerted about the gender pay gap that existed, especially in some of their top positions, three years ago. Since then, inequality has only worsened. 

An examination of the state payroll data shows that in 2021 women made up significantly less than half of the top 10 highest paid professionals at nearly every UMass campus. Professor of Economics Marlene Kim was in for a shock when the payroll data of all non-union employees were examined, she was confused as to how two people holding the same position can be paid with such a vast difference. "Having such a disparate gender wage gap not only necessitates, but I think obliges, the system to investigate to make sure that there isn't gender wage discrimination here" said Kim. She took the issue up with her employer. 

If you take a look at the entire UMass system starting from 2017 to 2021, in regards to the job held by both men and women earning between $25,000 to $150,000, women made an average of nearly 2.5% more. Having said that, when you look at the jobs held by both men and women making between $150,000 and $1 million during the same time frame, men made an average of nearly 29% more. One female faculty member who has taken up a high-level administrative job said that she's being paid 40% less than her male counterpart. The discrimination makes her feel "severely undervalued". "underappreciated" and "demoralized". She added, "it's shocking to know that this kind of discrepancy is something that our system allows."

Source: CBS News Boston, UMass Boston for the times, Justice Media Computational Journalism co-lad at Boston University.