Achieving tenure is a key goal in the career progression of faculty in universities, bringing with it increased job security and higher earnings. A new study released today shows a growing share of tenured positions in Canadian universities are held by women. However, gender parity has not yet been achieved.
In 2019, women held 37% of tenured positions in Canadian universities, up from 14% in 1990. This may be explained by the increase in the share of women in academia, with women accounting for 41% of university faculty in 2019. That said, women in full-time faculty positions are still less likely than men to be tenured: 63% of female faculty were tenured in 2019, compared with 75% of male faculty.
Using data from the University and College Academic Staff System and the Survey of Postsecondary Faculty and Researchers (2019), the study found that most, but not all, of the gender difference in tenure could be explained by differences in highest level of education attained and time since obtaining the highest degree.
In 2019, 75% of female faculty had a doctoral degree, lower than the proportion of male faculty at 82%. This is partly related to the higher concentration of women (22%) working as faculty in health-based fields relative to men (14%). Health and related disciplines are less likely to require a doctoral degree to be employed as university faculty. Women were also younger: 34% of women faculty were less than 45 years of age, while the same was true for 27% of men.
