Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Exploring Gender Wage Disparity in MFT Academic Programs

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Contemporary Family Therapy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study tested whether there was a significant salary difference between women and men working as faculty in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) programs within public universities. Additionally, we evaluated whether there were significant differences in academic attributes and how these academic attributes related to gender differences in salary. Results from our Oaxaca decomposition of salary differentials showed academic attributes like the number of peer-reviewed publications and years in academia could be used to explain the $9000 gap found between women and men in our sample of MFT academics. Our results indicated no evidence of salary discrimination against women working as MFT faculty members but showed that women were shown to have significantly less time in academia and to publish significantly fewer peer-reviewed journal articles than men. Implications of the current study findings include developing effective mechanisms for helping women persist in and advance through pathways of MFT academic promotion as well as for helping increase their scholarly productivity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barbezat, D. (1987). Salary differentials by sex in the academic labor market. Journal of Human Resources, 22, 422–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbezat, D. (1989). Affirmative action in higher education: Have two decades altered salary differentials by sex and race? Research in Labor Economics, 10, 107–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binder, M., Krause, K., Chermak, J., Thacher, J., & Gilroy, J. (2010). Same work, different pay? Evidence from a US public university. Feminist Economics, 16(4), 105–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2010.530605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buch, K., Huet, Y., Rorrer, A., & Roberson, L. (2011). Removing the barriers to full professor: A mentoring program for associate professors. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 43(6), 38–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dey, J. G., & Hill, C. (2007). Behind the gender pay gap. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hertlein, K. (2016). Reflections on intersecting personal and professional identities. Family Therapy Magazine, 26–30.

  • Jaschik, S. (2011). The enduring gender gap in pay. In Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved July 3, 2017 from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/04/052/the_enduring_gender_gap_in_faculty_pay.

  • Katz, D. A. (1973). Faculty salaries, promotions, and productivity at a large university. American Economic Review, 63(3), 469–477.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y., & Won, D. (2014). Trailblazing women in academia: Representation of women in senior faculty and the gender gap in junior faculty’s salaries in higher educational institutions. The Social Science Journal, 51(3), 331–340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2014.05.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oaxaca, R. L. (1973). Male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review, 14(3), 693–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renzulli, L. A., Reynolds, J., Kelly, K., & Grant, L. (2013). Pathways to gender inequality in faculty pay: The impact of institution, academic division, and rank. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 34, 58–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2013.08.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres Bernal, A., D’Aniello, C., & Vásquez, W. F. (2013). Gender distribution in COAMFTE-accredited programs. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 25(2), 93–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952833.2013.777874.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres Bernal, A., Le, K., West, A. M., & Brown, K. S. (2017). An examination of rates, rank, advancement, and salary of women faculty in COAMFTE-accredited training programs. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 29(1–2), 88–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952833.2016.1268449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toutkoushian, R. K., & Conley, V. M. (2005). Progress for women in academe, yet inequities persist: Evidence from NSOPF: 99. Research in Higher Education, 46(1), 1–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Travis, C. B., Gross, L. J., & Johnson, B. A. (2009). Tracking the gender pay gap: A case study. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 410–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vásquez, W. F. (2011). Ethnic and gender wage discrimination in Guatemala. The Journal of Developing Areas, 44(2), 109–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lindsay L. Edwards.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

We did not seek approval from the Institutional Review Board of our university because the data used in our analysis were publically available and de-identified.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Torres Bernal, A., Vásquez, W.F., Edwards, L.L. et al. Exploring Gender Wage Disparity in MFT Academic Programs. Contemp Fam Ther 40, 372–379 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-018-9462-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-018-9462-1

Keywords

Navigation