Trailblazing women in academia: Representation of women in senior faculty and the gender gap in junior faculty's salaries in higher educational institutions

• Women's representation on both senior and junior professor population may help improve gender equity in junior faculty salaries.
• The gender gap in wages is smaller in larger and less research-oriented universities.
• Any discrimination against women in the tenure and promotion process may create a vicious cycle of salary discrimination for junior women.

This study examines how women's representation at different levels of an organizational hierarchy predicts gender equity in assistant professors’ salaries at four-year universities. This study suggests that women's proportion at the full professor rank is positively associated with improved gender equity in assistant professors’ salaries, while women's proportion at the associate and assistant ranks is not significantly associated with improved gender equity. Institutions with a female president, however, have a greater wage gap. Overall, the results imply that the presence of women who blazed the trail of tenure and promotion contributes to the improved gender equity for their junior colleagues.