Female faculty members at the University of Waterloo will receive a pay bump of almost $3,000 after an internal review revealed they are paid less than their male counterparts.

The wage hike comes after a year-long investigation into salary inequities uncovered a “systemic gender anomaly” across the institution.

“I’m both pleased that the university has acknowledged the gender inequity and moved so quickly to fix it,” said Lynne Taylor, who co-chaired the wage review on behalf of the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW) representing teaching staff.

“There were rumours among the faculty that there might be issues. So we thought an anomaly review co-sponsored by both the university and the faculty association would be a good way of addressing those rumours.”

The inquiry was part of a salary settlement between FAUW and university administration struck last year. Taylor said the last effort to review salaries for gender imbalances took place seven years ago, and the new findings mean all female staff with contracts of two years or more with the university will receive a salary boost of $2,905 as of Sept. 1.

But the investigation stopped short at identifying the causes of pay “anomalies” and there will be no retroactive payments to staff.

“Our scope is what we could get; it was what we were able to negotiate,” said Taylor, who is a history professor at the university.

“We routinely review faculty salaries, including but not limited to gender-based inequities. The most recent salary review discovered some inequities and we are taking steps to address that gap,” said university provost Ian Orchard, adding that the institution was “committed to attracting and advancing female leaders into senior academic and administrative positions.”

Carrie Mitchell, an assistant professor with the university’s School of Planning, called the pay increase “fantastic” but said she hoped to see further measures to tackle systemic inequality.

“It’s not a full solution to the problem but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. There’s still issues around parental leave, around contract workers at the university (many of whom are women), around gender gaps over decades,” she said.

The review analyzed the salaries of every male and female employee represented by the university’s faculty association. Out of 1,170 faculty members, it found 71 potential anomalies. Of those, 59 were considered “certain,” meaning there was no identifiable reason for lower pay. Some 12 cases were recommended for further inquiry.

Female assistant and associate professors were identified as most likely to have a wage gap at the university; together, they made up almost 70 per cent of “anomaly” cases.

“When you do an exercise like this, you don’t know what the outcome will be. So the most important thing is that there was absolutely uniform, immediate acceptance that this has to be corrected,” said FAUW president Sally Gunz.

Similar initiatives have taken place at the University of British Columbia and McMaster University, which last year increased female faculty members’ salaries after a study found that women made an average $3,515 less than their male counterparts.

In 2011, the University of Toronto also struck a landmark pay equity agreement with the union representing clerical and technical staff at the university, which delivered millions of dollars in retroactive pay adjustments and found some female-dominated roles on campus were being paid as much as $30,000 less than comparable male-dominated positions.

The University of Waterloo’s investigation into pay gaps makes several recommendations for further action, including ensuring equitable starting salaries for men and women and committing to regular wage reviews every five years.

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For now, Mitchell says she is heartened by the symbolism of a pay boost, which could serve as a springboard for finding deeper solutions.

“This correction to account for the gender pay gap at UW is a very good start,” she said. “But we still have a long way to go towards true equality in Canadian universities and our society more generally.”