Tuesday, March 8, 2005

More female professors

WOMEN have been making more and more inroads into the ranks of teaching staff at Canadian universities, according to a new report.

In the academic year 2002/03, women accounted for nearly one-third of full-time university faculty members in Canada. This was up from only about one-fifth 12 years earlier.

The trend has been fuelled by the rising educational attainment of women generally, as well as a growing academic work force reaching retirement age that consists mainly of men.

Women have made even greater inroads in the lower ranks of academia. In 2002/03, they held more than 40% of associate professorships, and well over half of all lecture, instructor and other faculty positions.

Non-traditional fields

The proportion of women professors in non-traditional fields of study has also increased over the 12-year period. It has more than tripled in engineering and applied sciences and nearly doubled in mathematics and physical sciences.

However, women academics still make considerably less than their male peers. This is due in part to the lower salaries of the disciplines where they are concentrated such as health, education and the humanities.

Another reason for the salary discrepancy is that women academics are more likely to be younger than their male counterparts and, therefore, at a lower pay scale.

Women accounted for over one-third of all full-time faculty members under the age of 40 in 2002/03. However, they represented less than one-fifth of faculty over the age of 55.

You can read the full report “The rising profile of women academics” on our website.

For more information, contact Deborah Sussman (613-951-4226) or Lahouaria Yssaad (613-951-0627).

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© 2004, 2005 Statistics Canada.