“Light, Truth, Courage” is the slogan that promises three virtues for a Northeastern University student. But is this slogan promising to the staff? Female-identifying professors in the Department of Communication Studies have pointed out the hypocrisy of this claim as they get paid less than their male-identifying counterparts.
According to Pew Research Center, the wage gap is the difference in median annual earnings between male and female workers in the United States. According to UN Women, in 2023, women get paid 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. This disparity in pay has frustrated various women in the workforce who work the same hours and produce the same quality work as their male co-workers.
In an institution that prides itself on diversity, equity, and inclusion, this problem still applies. As a result, a handful of Northeastern professors came together to demand equal pay in a complaint against the university. To which the university replied, “Sorry.”
Professor Carey Noland, a communications teacher at the institution, was one of the professors to come forward. Noland believes that the university can get away with paying women – specifically women of color – less because of the culture that “makes excuses to treat men better.”
To start, Noland says that Northeastern has allocated a lot of money to prevent the creation of unions. These unions would dismantle the inequalities in the workforce and work towards alleviating the wage gap. But it is not to the university’s advantage, economically or socially, to have people point out their flaws. “I did my part and tried, and I failed,” said Noland. “I don’t want to say I’ve lost all hope, but what is there to do when the university benefits from this?”
Furthermore, even when students or staff have come together, the efforts are disrupted by the quick-paced environment. “Students will start to gain traction for a certain issue, and then they go on co-op,” says Noland. “Unfortunately, we are all too busy and have no choice but to move on.”
Other than systematic issues, this problem concerns the general attitude women in academia and other workplaces are subject to. According to What to Become, studies have shown that 42% of women have faced gender discrimination at work. In addition, 23% of women are considered incompetent due to gender.
This culture perpetuates the harmful cycle of sexism in the workforce. As a result, women’s work is less often recognized, and men receive better treatment, pay, raises, and benefits for the same – or even less – effort women put into their jobs.
As the National Conference of State Legislatures reports from Pew Research Center, the wage gap resulted from occupational segregation. Women were often overrepresented in lower-paying jobs. As a result of this socialization, women were less likely to seek higher-paying and more professional jobs such as higher educators, lawyers, etc., and hirers were less likely to hire women with “less experience.” Even when women sought and received these jobs, they were disadvantaged because of implemented prejudices.
Thus, the system continues to be unjust because of the social attitudes ingrained in the workforce for decades. While it is easy for institutions like Northeastern to start educating hirers about this implicit bias, it is hard for that education actually to be implemented. Noland, who has worked in various hiring committees, says the bias is merely pointed out and not acted upon.
For a tangible change, there must be education surrounding the wage gap and a call to action in the hiring process. This call to action includes educating and encouraging female students not to settle or let their self-worth be negotiated by gender-based discrimination.
However, this education is only worthwhile if those in higher positions eliminate barriers for women first to be accepted to higher paying jobs and then be treated equally in such jobs.
Until this issue is addressed, I will not accept the slogan “Light, Truth, Courage.” There is no light in leaving women in the dark, no truth in being dishonest about workforce equality, and no courage in supporting a system that marginalizes the women that so brilliantly contribute to this institution.