Gender and the Wage Gap in Turkish Academia

Abstract

Turkey maintains one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in Europe but also boasts an above average number of female professors. Turkey is well above the European average (15 per cent) with approximately 28 per cent of full professorships being occupied by women. Despite these seemingly positive indications do men and women in Turkish academia earn the same wages? This study explores whether or not there exists a gendered pay gap in Turkish academia. Using data collected from a survey of more than 700 Turkish academics we observed that there is a gendered wage gap that disadvantages women but only at the highest pay levels found at private universities indicating the existence of intra-class inequality where men and women despite occupying the same class position are compensated differently.