Illinois: women teachers earn 92 percent of men

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This study analyzed salary data on all public school educators in the state of  Illinois. In this analysis, we use the term “educators” to mean all public school employees (with the  few exceptions noted in the discussion of the methodology). 

Within the education profession, the study analyzed  various types of roles.  Even looking specifically at classroom teachers and after adjusting for cost of living differences, the study  found that, on average, women teachers earn salaries that are only 92 percent of what men earn.  While this is a better salary ratio than what women earn in the workforce generally, it is nevertheless  below the national rate of 97 percent in the teaching profession. 5  

Looking at the education profession more broadly, we found significant gender-based disparities  within particular races and ethnicity. Statewide, Hispanic women earn $4,000 less than Hispanic  men. Interestingly, the disparity is far worse for white women, who typically earn almost $10,000  less than white men.   

Much of these differences in educator salaries are due to clustering in certain types of districts.  The majority of nonwhite educators work in Chicago Public Schools, one of the highest-paying  large urban districts in the country. In fact, 97 percent of  black educators in Illinois work in cities and suburbs, which  are far and away the highest-paying districts in the state. 6

 As a result, black educators, and black women in particular,  earn the highest average salaries in the state.  These differences cannot be explained away entirely by the fact that men are disproportionately  represented in leadership positions. While that’s a problem in its own right, there are more female  than male school administrators in Illinois, and, on average, they earn roughly the same salary.  However, those women typically had to work two additional years to qualify for an administrator  salary, which suggests the issue may be more a matter of unequal advancement opportunities  rather than something that can be fixed through the salary scale.  

Additionally, the degree of the disparity depends on whether or not the educator works in Chicago  Public Schools. Excluding Chicago educators, the gender- and race-based salary gaps increase. The  average salaries for black women plummet when Chicago is excluded, and the salary gap increases  by 500 percent between black men and black women. The pattern holds for pensions as well,  resulting in dramatically less valuable annual retirement benefits for women and educators of color.