Descriptive analysis

According to the 2016 Census, 122,510 Canadians between the ages of 25 and 54 worked in policy research occupations, with this workforce being predominantly female (61% female) (Table 2). Specifically, one in six (16%) worked in health policy research, a field characterized by greater gender segregation (74% women). Of the eight policy research occupations studied, only the economic policy research workforce was male-dominated (44% female). The other occupations observed had between 53 and 75% women.

All eight occupations were characterized by lower average annual earnings for women than for men, despite similarities in tasks and working conditions. Women in health policy research personnel earned an average of 88 cents for every dollar earned by men (Table 2). In other occupations, the gender earnings ratio ranged from 72 to 91 cents to the dollar. Professions in traditionally male-dominated sectors (including economics, natural and applied sciences, and business development policy fields) tended to offer higher average pay levels than professions in traditionally male-dominated sectors. dominated by women (including health, education, social and commerce). areas of leisure policy). The highest-paying occupations were also characterized by higher gender pay ratios (72‒82 cents to the dollar) than their counterparts in traditionally female-dominated sectors (88‒91 cents to the dollar).

Across all occupations, having a higher proportion of women was correlated with lower average wages among women (r= − 0.68) (Figure 1). The negative correlation of professional feminization was even stronger in terms of lower average wages among men (r= − 0.80).

Health policy researchers were mainly employed in health and social care institutions (women: 44%; men: 39%) and in public administration (women: 24%; men: 26%), but not exclusively (Fig. 2). A significant number were engaged in educational services and other scientific and technical services. Conversely, health care and social care institutions engaged a large number of leisure policy researchers (women: 17%; men: 6%) and social policy researchers (women: 11%; men: 6%). In other words, the boundaries of the health system were not easily delineated by any given area of ​​policy research.

Percentage distribution by place of work among health and other policy researchers, by policy area

The age structure of health policy research personnel differed little by gender (Table 3). In contrast, female policy researchers in natural and applied sciences and in business development fields tended to be younger than men, i.e. more often in the 25 age group. at 34, which reflects the feminization of sectors where women were traditionally present. underrepresented. With respect to other key labor market variables, women health policy researchers were less often characterized than men with a university-level degree (58% versus 61%) and more often in part-time work (11 % versus 8%). In terms of social identity variables, female health policy researchers reported being the primary household maintainer much less often than men (50% versus 72%), but more often residing in a household with children (53% versus 48%). Women were also less likely than men to have been adult migrants to Canada (15% versus 26%).

Bivariate analysis of wage gaps by sex

Based on the simple linear regression model, female health policy researchers were found to earn 9.0% (95% CI 5.1‒12.7%; pr= 0.76).

Gender pay gap as percentage of women among health and non-health policy researchers, by policy area

Multivariate and decomposition analyzes of the gender wage gap

Multivariate linear regression analysis confirmed evidence for a significant gender pay gap in health policy research staff, with women earning 4.8% (95% CI 1.5‒8.0 %) less than men, after adjusting for other professional, social and residential characteristics. (Table 4, model 5). People at the start of their careers (25-34 years old) tended to earn less than their more established colleagues, other things being equal, as did those who had immigrated to the country as adults relative to their native-born counterparts. in the country or who had migrated during childhood or adolescence (i.e. before exposure to higher education and access to the labor market).

In non-health policy research occupations, the gender pay gap remained as wide in five other fields: women’s earnings were on average 4.0% lower (among social policy researchers ) to 12.3% lower (among business development policy researchers) than men (Table 4). No discernible gender-based pay gap was found for policy researchers in government programs and education fields, among which gross pay gaps were largely attributable to age, higher education and adult migrant status.

In a regression model pooling the eight policy research fields, the seven female-dominated professions were each found to pay significantly less on average than economic policy research (i.e. the only female-dominated profession masculine observed), all other things being equal (not shown). In particular, the average annual salary of health policy researchers was 21.1% (95% CI 19.4‒22.8%) lower than that of their counterparts in economic policy research. For economic policy researchers, salaries ranged on average from 15.4% lower (among business development policy researchers) to 36.2% lower (among leisure policy researchers). The overall gender pay gap remained significant, with women’s average earnings estimated at 8.1% (95% CI 6.9‒9.2%) lower than men’s, regardless of policy area or other professional or personal characteristics.

The decomposition analysis indicated that, as expected, differences between women and men in educational attainment and other traditional human capital variables accounted for a large portion (27%) of the difference. gender pay gap in the policy research workforce (Table 5). However, 15% of the wage gap was attributable to occupational differences, that is, to the field of policy and program research, as distinct from other job characteristics. The gender pay gap was less pronounced in health policy research than in the (higher paid) economic policy field. Age differences between women and men accounted for 6% of the wage gap and differences in social identity characteristics accounted for 10% of the gap. After decomposing gender differences in occupational wages, a significant 40% of the gap remained unexplained by the measured predictors.