Disabled PhD holders in STEM get paid less
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STEM PhD holders with disabilities are underpaid and underrepresented in United States academia, a study finds.
The findings from the Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center at the School of Nursing suggest that PhD graduates in science, technology, engineering, and medicine in the US who were born with disabilities or became disabled before age 25 earn $14,360 less per year in academia than those without disabilities.
They are also underrepresented at higher faculty levels—such as deans and presidents—and in tenured positions, according to the study in Nature Human Behaviour.
“We’re identifying the barriers to inclusion so we can dismantle them,” says Bonnielin Swenor, an author of the study. Swenor is also a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and founder and director of the center. “Combating the disparities will take structural transformation.”
Previous research has revealed pay disparities and unequal representation in STEM for women and underrepresented racial minorities in the US; research has also identified that scientists and engineers with disabilities, regardless of the age of disability onset, are more likely to be unemployed than the overall US labor force. However, data on disparities for STEM doctoral recipients with disabilities have been lacking.
Swenor and colleagues examined evidence for differences in salary and representation of STEM PhD grads with disabilities before 25 years of age and those with disabilities at 25 years of age or later, compared to doctorate recipients without disabilities.
