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“This is not a mere omission for one year,” he said. “This is longstanding neglect. Where there is longstanding neglect, what it connotes is that neither the union nor the university care for employment equity.”

Attaran said the university continues to be “unforthcoming” with equity information about aboriginal, visible minority and disabled professors.

“When we asked for data, the university gave us comprehensive data for women and men and hardly anything for other groups.”

The committee’s lengthy report found the university has inadequate representation amongst faculty members of women, visible minorities, aboriginal persons and persons with disabilities.

“There is compelling evidence that, in some faculties, female faculty may face gender discrimination; there is also evidence that women experience slower professional advancement, and this may indeed be due to systemic factors.”

The committee said it also suspects similar problems faced by faculty who are visible minorities, aboriginal professors or people with disability but “there is no mechanism in the university at present for accessing and analyzing data that can provide a clear picture — a situation that is of the most serious concern.”

Women make up 41 per cent of 1,236 full-time professors at the University of Ottawa.

At Carleton, Gorelick, who heads the academic staff association, said that according to their analysis, female professors and instructors face a pay gap in the range of $3,500 to $5,000. Instructors, who are lower paid, are largely female, while professors are largely male. At Carleton, he said, 46 per cent of assistant professors are female, 36 per cent of associate professors are female and 26 per cent of full professors are female. That, said Gorelick, indicates “a huge gender bias.” The department of women’s and gender studies, which is all female, is the lowest paid, according to Gorelick. Computer science, which is the highest paid, has four female staff out of 31, none of whom are full professors.