On 5 December 2022, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research (the Committee) decided to undertake a study on the long-term impacts of the gender and diversity pay gap for faculty at Canadian universities. During its study, the Committee held seven meetings between 20 June 2023 and 30 October 2023. It heard from 18 witnesses and received three briefs.

Witnesses highlighted the well-documented gender pay gaps between women and men in academic roles in Canadian universities. The most cited figure was that women professors earn on average 10%, or $10,500, less than men for the same work. Part of this gender pay gap can be explained by differences in the distribution of men and women at different ranks, ages, and in different disciplines, with a greater proportion of men represented at higher ranks and in better paying disciplines. When those factors are accounted for, the gender pay gap reduces to approximately 4%.

While less data is available around the pay gaps experienced by other demographic groups, witnesses did also highlight pay gaps experienced by racialized faculty members, Indigenous university professors, and university faculty with disabilities in comparison to their white and able-bodied peers. Witnesses also noted that the combined effects of gender, race, Indigenous identity, and other factors intersect to affect employment incomes among university professors, with non-white racial identities and Indigenous status producing a negative effect on income, and with the worst income levels experienced by non-white women.

Witnesses discussed how these pay gaps can have long-term impacts on a faculty member’s retirement income.

The Committee also heard that other equity gaps exist for faculty who are women, racialized, Indigenous and with disabilities in Canadian universities, including:

• low representation, particularly in leadership positions;
• more work responsibilities related to less prestigious service work, such as academic mentorship, committee membership and reviewing for journals;
• smaller grant sizes;
• fewer citations; and
• experiences of discrimination.

Witnesses discussed the drivers of some of these equity gaps, such as differences in pay and representation based on the faculty member’s field of study, a concentration of women, racialized people, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities at lower academic ranks, the greater proportion of work time taken up by less prestigious service work, and caregiving responsibilities.

The Committee further heard about the value diversity brings to science, and the ways in which pay gaps can harm diversity by driving people away from university careers.

Witnesses recommended a variety of ways in which universities, labour organizations, provinces and the federal government can reduce pay gaps among university faculty, including:

• the undertaking of pay gaps studies and salary adjustments at individual institutions;
• a review of promotion and recognition criteria for faculty;
• equity, diversity and inclusion training;
• the adoption of more equitable hiring practices;
• pay transparency;
• investment in education;
• comprehensive childcare options;
• equitable federal research funding opportunities;
• increased pay equity data collection and research; and
• a strengthened federal contractors program.

Based on the testimony it heard, the Committee made four recommendations to the federal government to support greater pay equity for faculty at Canadian universities.