Top earners: Where are all the women?

Sunshine List shows huge gap in terms of numbers and pay compared to men

W

OMEN ARE VASTLY under-represented among the top public sector earners in Hamilton and Burlington.

The higher up the salary ladder you go, the fewer women you find.

“The wage gap is a real thing,” said Fay Faraday, co-chair of the Ontario-based Equal Pay Coalition. “The release of the Sunshine List is a moment that reveals the reality of that pay gap. We’ll see it right across every sector that is represented there.”

Women account for just over one in three public sector earners making $250,000 or more in Hamilton and Burlington in 2016, povincial salary disclosures released on March 31 revealed.

It’s closer to one in four when you look at the top 50 earners.

It’s fewer than one in five for the top 25 earners. It drops to one in the top 10. “That exact same pattern is represented at every income level,” said Faraday. “As you go up, the gap gets bigger … This is a moment where we get to see how the women with some of the most secure jobs are facing that same disparity. It echoes right down the income ladder.”

A look at the area’s highest male and female earners shows a stark difference.

The 10 top-paid men made between $402,202 and $726,315 in salary and taxable benefits in 2016 with half of them earning $500,000 or more.

The women at the top of the salary ladder made about $100,000 to $300,000 less with one making more than $400,000.

Kevin Smith (CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System) Male $726,315

Dr. Salim Yusuf (executive director of the Population Health Research Institute at Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University) Male $690,462 Rob MacIsaac (CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences) Male $635,144

Dr. John Kelton (executive director of Initiative for Innovation in Healthcare at McMaster University) Male $525,181 Dr. David Higgins (president of St. Joseph’s Healthcare) Male $510,035 Dr. Mark Crowther (department chair and professor of pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster University) Male $451,503 Brenda Flaherty (chief operating officer at HHS) Female $438,841 Richard McLean (chief medical executive at HHS) Male $424,815

Dr. Ralph Meyer (vice-president of oncology and palliative care

at HHS) Male $418,403 Dr. Akbar Panju (professor and acting chair of the department of medicine at McMaster) Male $416,493.27 Dr. Norman Buckley (chair of the department of anesthesia) Male $402,202 Patrick Deane (president of McMaster University) Male $400,452 Renato Discenza (executive vice-president of strategy and innovation at HHS) Male $400,321 David McCaig (chief financial officer at HHS) Male $384,141 Leonard Waverman (dean of the DeGroote School of business at

McMaster) Male $377,035 Dr. Paul O’Byrne (dean of health sciences at McMaster) Male $376,291 Dr. Peter Fitzgerald (president of McMaster Children’s Hospital) Male $372,952 Eric Vandewall (president and CEO of Joseph Brant Hospital) Male $371,507 Dr. Stuart Connolly (director of the division of cardiology at

HHS) Male $370,000 Winifred Doyle (executive vice-president of clinical services, mental health and addictions at St. Joseph’s) Female $362,046 Dr. Mohit Bhandari (professor in the department of surgery at

McMaster) Male $356,632 Dr. John Fernandes (chief of the Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program paid by HHS) Male $352,322 Rebecca Repa (vice-president of clinical support services and community surgery at HHS) Female $351,847 Sharon Pierson (vice-president of community medicine and population health at HHS) Female $348,084 Dr. Julian Hart (chief of laboratory medicine at Joseph

Brant) Male $346,327