Sex Differences in Faculty Salaries: A Cohort Analysis

Annual salary increases for college and university faculty generally take the form of a percentage increase over base, rather than an actual dollar award. These percentage increases are typically determined without regard to the base dollar salary (Hearn, 1999). As a result, early advantages in salaries persist over time, even when the performance of lower-paid faculty is superior (Hearn, 1999). As Hearn (1999) has noted, sex differences in starting salaries are particularly problematic because of this annuity feature of faculty salaries. Specifically, initial inequities in the salaries of women and men faculty are very difficult to resolve through the annual process of awarding merit or across-the-board salary increases.