LETTERS: UNIVERSITY IS MAKING GAINS IN GENDER EQUITY FOR FACULTY

To the editor:

The front page story headlined "Females paid less than males at SEMO" (Aug. 21) is a classic example of the way statistical information and presentation can inadvertently give a false interpretation of the facts. The information and national comparative data I provided your reporter on Friday should have resulted in a headline which read "Southeast ahead of peers in faculty salary gender equity," with a subhead reading "Average female salary at each rank almost identical to average male salary; difference due to experience, not gender." The headline and subhead leave the reader with the incorrect impression that the university in some way discriminates against its female faculty.

We certainly do not expect a retraction, but since education is our mission, we do not believe we should leave that impression uncorrected.

There are times when comparing averages is not appropriate. The Southeast Missourian's use of the average overall salary difference ($45,178 for males to $40,504 for females) is the least meaningful statistic if your goal is to help the reader understand the salary equity situation at the university. Stating that "women on the faculty make less than their male counterparts" is terribly misleading, and creates the impression cited above. These overall averages ignore the fact that women with equal faculty rank and years of service, and who are in disciplines with similar market conditions, are typically paid the same as their male counterparts. The salary average differential is caused by the fact that the average male has taught here longer than the average female -- not by any kind of discrimination as could be inferred from the headline and lead.

I would like to think that the typical reader would carefully analyze the chart which ran beneath your headline, and would be able to see for himself or herself that the average female assistant professor's salary is somewhat higher than the average male assistant professor's salary, and that the average female professors and associate professor's salary is practically identical (99.2 percent and 99.7 percent) to the average male's salary in those ranks -- differences which are easily explained by the difference in average years of service. Unfortunately, it is all too easy for the unwary reader to assume your treatment of the story that the university discriminates against women in its handling of salary issues. That is not the case.

The chart would have been much more informative if it had also included the number of individuals of each gender in each rank, and the average years of service of individuals of each gender in each rank. This would have enabled the reader to see what factors other than gender account for the male-female difference in average salary, both by rank and overall. It would have made clear, for example, that the average female faculty member has been on the job less time than the average male faculty member in each rank. It would also have made clear that the large number of men in the relatively highly paid professor and associate professor ranks -- an historic fact which will be changed only over a period of time as recently hired females move into those ranks -- inflates the overall male faculty salary average. The point is that individual female faculty at Southeast are not paid less than their individual male counterparts within a given faculty rank. So the averages and the headlines are misleading.

Finally, illustrating the problem with your use of statistics, the final paragraph does not agree with the subhead on page 1. On page 1, you indicate that the men's salary average is $45,178 and the women's $40,504. By my calculation, that would put the women's average at 89.65 percent of the men's average. However, on page 2, you state that Southeast women faculty make, on average, 99.6 percent of the salaries earned by their male colleagues. The latter percentage was apparently computed by averaging the average female-to-male salary ratios of each of the four ranks.

While this averaging of averages is a statistical no-no, it ironically comes closer to showing the true status of equity at Southeast than do the headline and subhead on page 1. The comparison of gender equity by Southeast with the national date for public comprehensive institutions shows that the women at each rank are paid more equitably here than is true nationwide:

-- Southeast female professors, on average, earn 99.2 percent of the salary paid to male professors, although males here have, on average, three years more of service. (This compares to 95.5 percent nationally.)

-- Southeast female associate professors, on average, earn 99.7 percent of the salary paid to male associate professors, although males here have, on average, four years more of service. (This compares to 95.1 percent nationally.)

-- Southeast female assistant professors, on average, earn 104.3 percent of the salary paid to male assistant professors, although males here have, on average, four years more of service. (This compares to 93.2 percent nationally.)

-- Southeast female instructors, on average, earn 95.2 percent of the salary paid to male instructors, although males here have, on average, two more years of service. (This compares to 93.3 percent nationally.)

We appreciate your effort to inform the public about the university, but in this instance we are disappointed that the story, headline, and jump head gave a negative tone to what is actually a very positive Southeast story. The university is actually a national leader in providing salary equity for women faculty and, as stated in your story, has a strong commitment to ending this historical inequity in the number of women hired for teaching positions.

ART WALLHAUSEN

Assistant to the President

Southeast Missourian State University

Cape Girardeau