Pay Scale Gender Equity Monitoring Policy

1. Policy Statement & Commitment

Atatürk University is committed to full gender equity in compensation. This commitment is institutional: we regularly measure and track gender differences in pay scales across all staff categories (academic, administrative, technical, outsourced) to ensure no unjustified gender pay gaps exist. If gaps are detected, we apply remediation plans.

This policy is aligned with the university’s equity, diversity & inclusion goals, and contributes to SDG 5 (gender equality) as well as SDG 8.2.7.

2. Legal & Ethical Foundations in Turkey

• Constitution of Turkey (Article 10): Ensures equality before the law, prohibits discrimination on grounds including sex.

• Turkish Labour Law No. 4857 requires equal pay for equal work and prohibits discrimination.

• Law on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Public Sector (and related internal public service regulations) legitimizes gender parity initiatives in state institutions.

• International frameworks: ILO conventions (Equal Remuneration convention No. 100; Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention No. 111) provide normative guidance.

Thus, pay equity monitoring is not just aspirational, it’s consistent with both national and international legal standards.

3. Measurement Methodology & Key Metrics

To ensure full compliance, we define a rigorous methodology:

1. Disaggregation by gender and staff category

   • Academic ranks: professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, research assistant

   • Administrative / technical / support staff

   • Outsourced/contracted personnel (if pay data available)

2. Normalized comparison

   • Use base salaries, excluding variable allowances (e.g. performance bonuses, extra teaching fees) initially

   • Then, adjust for legitimate differentiators (experience, qualifications, seniority, administrative roles)

   • Compute adjusted gender pay gap (percentage difference after controlling for role, seniority)

3. Indicators to monitor

   • Mean and median salaries by gender for each rank

   • Ratio (female : male) of mean salary within same rank

   • Percentage of women in top salary quartiles vs bottom quartiles

   • Trend analysis over time (year-to-year change in gaps)

   • Remediation rates: number of pay adjustments made due to identified gender pay disparities

4. Frequency & Reporting

   • Conduct full pay equity audits annually

   • Publish summary in the Annual Sustainability / Equity Report

   • Dashboard for internal stakeholders (HR, Rectorate, Equality Office) with real-time alerts if gaps exceed 5% threshold

4. Institutional Structures & Responsibilities

• Human Resources Department leads data collection, gender pay gap modeling, and baseline/annual reporting.

• Equality & Diversity Committee reviews outcomes, approves remediation actions, ensures transparency.

• Big Data Management Office supports dashboarding, integration with payroll systems, anomaly detection.

• Internal Audit & Oversight periodically verifies data integrity and adherence to agreed remediation plans.

5. Example & Benchmark Data

While I could not find publicly available gender-pay gap data specific to Atatürk University, the broader national context supports the need:

• The ILO Türkiye Office reports that gender wage gaps remain persistent across sectors, and recommends institutional pay audits. International Labour Organization
  
  

• In the higher education sector, studies show underrepresentation of women in higher ranks, which often correlates to pay gaps by rank. KADEM KADIN ARAŞTIRMALARI DERGİSİ
  
  

• National statistics: the Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) publishes gender wage inequality in broader dataset where women’s earnings are statistically lower than men’s for similar qualifications. Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu
  
  

As a concrete internal anchor, the university could compare the 2025 Temmuz academic salary scales (e.g. professor, associate professor, etc.) from the publicly available “2025 akademisyen maaşları” tables and check whether women and men are equally distributed across those pay scales. Akademisyenler

6. Remediation & Adjustment Policy

• If a statistically significant adjusted gender pay gap is detected (e.g. > 3–5 %), a corrective salary adjustment plan is triggered within the next fiscal year.

• Senior leadership (Rector / Strategy Office) must approve these adjustments.

• Transparent explanation is provided to affected staff (e.g. “equity adjustment based on gender audit”).

• Subsequent audits check whether the adjustments successfully closed the gap.

7. Communication & Transparency

• The gender pay gap summary is published annually on the university’s SDG / Sustainability portal (with anonymized data).

• Staff are informed in internal bulletins and town halls about methodology, findings, and remediation actions.

• Stakeholders (student union, staff unions, equality bodies) have access to summary reports and may challenge discrepancies.