A state auditor's report that was recently released on gender and hiring by the University of California concluded that female faculty are being hired at a percentage close to the national adjusted applicant pool, and that men and women are being hired at equitable salaries.

But the report also pointed out that some academic departments are doing better than others in making efforts to improve equal opportunity for women in their hiring practices. According to the report, while women accounted for 33% of the national adjusted applicant pool, 29% of UC faculty hires during that same five-year period were women.

The UC pool of qualified applicants is affected by the fact that UC hires from an international pool of doctoral recipients which has fewer women than the national pool; that UC hires a significant number of senior-level faculty who obtained their degrees when fewer women were pursuing doctoral study; and that UC hires in a particular mix of disciplines that contains a higher proportion of male-dominated fields such as math and engineering, officials explained.

"The audit confirms the university's understanding that when the data are adjusted to reflect the percent of women in the actual pool from which UC hires, the apparent gender disparity noted at the beginning of the report diminishes substantially," noted C. Judson King, UC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

The report also found that no overall salary inequity exists between male and female new hires and that any apparent differences are caused by factors other than gender.

"The campuses will continue monitoring hiring salaries in accordance with the recommendations in order to maintain gender equity," King said. "Campuses also will implement academic career review procedures to ensure that salary equity is maintained throughout each faculty member's career."

King said UC shares the auditors' concern about the decline in the proportion of newly hired women faculty since changes in state law in the mid-1990s limited the university's affirmative action programs.

"The University of California is committed to ensuring that our own academic personnel practices do not directly or indirectly discriminate against women faculty," King said. "The UC also will make every effort to minimize societal barriers that may prevent women from pursuing academ ic careers."

The report is available at: www.bsa.ca.gov/bsa/index.html.