Gender Pay Gap in Education

Chalkbeat
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
Click here for more.
Pay Inequality Between Male and Female Educators Giving Compass

Giving Compass’ Take:

• Matt Barnum reports that University of North Carolina graduate students conducted a study that found a significant pay gap between male and female educators in Pennsylvania and Illinois. 

• Why does the gender pay gap persist in a female-dominated profession? How can funders work to address gender-based pay discrepancies? 

• Read about what really matters to the teachers who are running the current strikes.

Two University of North Carolina graduate students were curious: Were female school superintendents earning less than their male counterparts?

Considering longstanding gender pay gaps across the economy, they expected to find a disparity. And using data from Pennsylvania, they did. But they also turned up something else when they plugged in data about classroom teachers.

To their surprise, they found a small but notable gender pay gap for classroom teachers, who are usually paid based on set salary schedules that are designed in part to root out exactly those sorts of disparities.

Virtually no matter how the data is analyzed, female educators earn less than their male counterparts in Pennsylvania, and, according to a separate analysis released this year, Illinois.

And the gaps actually grow when controlling for factors that might explain the differences, suggesting outright discrimination may be at play.

Together, the two new studies illustrate how even the education field — a female-dominated one where many salaries aren’t open to negotiation — isn’t immune to the gender pay gap, at a time when strikes and walkouts mean extra attention is being paid to teachers’ wages.

In each job category, the raw dollar gap between men and women’s salaries was over a thousand dollars.  There are a few potential explanations for this. Women teachers had about one fewer year of experience, on average, perhaps because they are more likely to take time off in the middle of their careers. Men may be more likely to take on extra duties like sports coaching, which could show up in the numbers even though the data is only supposed to include base salaries.

Read the full article about pay inequality by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.

Learning and benchmarking are key steps towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact on K-12 Education take a look at these selections from Giving Compass.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Low Income, Minority Schools Are Losing Resources

    Congress should provide incentives to states to change school funding formulas that often shortchange districts serving the most low-income and minority students, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. As poverty becomes increasingly concentrated, the report notes, education funding disparities often leave schools ill-equipped to provide students an adequate education. The report, Commission Chair Catherine Lhamon said, is “distressingly topical” as public outrage mounts in Baltimore, where schools closed last week after 60 buildings reported heating problems “after years of insufficient funding.” Before the closures, students were attending classes wearing coats, gloves, and hats. On average, school districts in the U.S. spend roughly $11,000 per pupil each year, with an overwhelming majority of that money derived from local tax dollars, a figure that fluctuates based on wealth. As a result, the report notes, the country’s poorest districts receive an average of $1,200 less per pupil than their wealthiest counterparts. Similarly, districts with the most students of color receive about $2,000 less per pupil than the whitest schools. Although the federal government provides only a fraction of schools’ total education dollars, the report called on Congress to take “bold action” to ensure local and state governments provide resources equitably. Read the full article about low income, minority schools by Mark Keierlbeber at The 74.

Looking for a way to get involved?

If you are interested in K-12 Education, please see these relevant events, training, conferences or volunteering opportunities the Giving Compass team recommends.

Loading...
Learn More
Are you ready to give?

If you are looking for opportunities to take action and give money to K-12 Education, here are some Giving Funds, Charitable Organizations and Projects aggregated by Giving Compass where you can take immediate action.

Loading...
Learn More

Sign in

Your personal information is confidential at Giving Compass. For more information, please visit our privacy policy. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use.