The Joint Gender Equity Salary Adjustment Committee has released a report with recommendations to help the university alleviate pay inequity.

The committee was established by Memorial’s administration and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association in 2019 to address gender-based pay inequity among academic staff members at Memorial.

Tangible actions

The committee was allocated $1 million to address gender-based inequities in total salary for women academic staff members when compared to men counterparts.

The committee’s work involved analysis of existing literature on pay gaps for women at universities across Canada, in-depth consultations with Memorial’s Centre for Institutional Analysis and Planning and academic units across campuses and an internal assessment of pay for women and men in academic staff positions.

Tangible actions that will be taken based on the findings of the report include at least a one-step increase for all tenured, tenure-track and permanent women academic staff members, with those with the most service at the university receiving an additional step.

The salary increases are to take effect on July 1, 2021. Other actions involve the creation and maintenance of a rich, detailed and accurate database with annual analysis of important variables that affect inequity among women academic staff members and other equity-deserving groups.

‘Put in the necessary work’

The report is available here.

“Pay inequity is an issue at Memorial, but it is certainly not unique,” said Sheila Singleton, retired Memorial employee and committee chair.

“We have seen that Canadian universities struggle to recognize and reduce inequities among academic staff members, but Memorial must put in the necessary work to not only reduce pay inequity, but to track and maintain accurate data to ensure this imbalance doesn’t persist.”

The report has been submitted to Memorial’s academic leadership. The committee’s recommendations will be implemented.