Women now make up the majority of assistant professors at Canadian universities for the first time, but remain significantly underrepresented at senior academic ranks where they account for only one-third of full professors, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The 2024/2025 academic year saw women comprise 52.9% of assistant professors and 45.1% of associate professors, but just 33.6% of full professors — the highest academic rank. Overall, women represented 43.7% of the roughly 49,000 full-time teaching staff at Canadian universities.
The gender imbalance at senior ranks directly contributes to a persistent wage gap, according to the data. Male professors earned an average of $170,550 annually in 2024/2025, compared to $153,425 for women — a difference of 10%.
Academic rank drives majority of wage gap
Academic rank and years at rank accounted for nearly three-quarters of the gender wage gap, according to a statistical analysis conducted by Statistics Canada. Academic rank alone explained 55.5% of the gap, while years at rank accounted for 19.2%.
The underrepresentation of women at the full professor level — where 22.6% of faculty are aged 65 or older — was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the rank-related wage differential.
Additional factors including subject taught, age group, administrative responsibilities, and institution size and region collectively explained 94.1% of the total wage gap. The remaining 5.9% could stem from unmeasured factors such as salary negotiation differences or gender bias, according to Statistics Canada.
Aging workforce as mandatory retirement ends
The proportion of professors aged 65 and older has surged from 2.7% in 2005/2006 to 12.1% in 2024/2025, following the elimination of mandatory retirement legislation in most provinces. Among full professors specifically, more than one in five are now 65 or older.
The share of assistant professors has declined from 26.9% to 19.7% over the same period, while full professors increased slightly from 35.4% to 37.0% of teaching staff.
The number of full-time teaching staff remained essentially flat year-over-year, representing the smallest annual increase since 2016/2017.
Progress toward parity
Women’s representation in university teaching positions has grown substantially over four decades, rising from 15.9% in 1984/1985 to 43.7% in 2024/2025. At the full professor rank, the proportion of women increased nearly sixfold from 5.7% to 33.6% during that period.
Total salaries for full-time teaching staff reached just over $8 billion in 2024/2025, according to Statistics Canada. When including part-time teaching staff, total salary expenditures approached $13 billion in 2023/2024.
