For the first time, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has broken down clergy pay by gender, and the surprising results—that there is a gender pay gap in this occupation—is causing much comment in the religion-based media.
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Before this year, the percentage of female clergy was so small that BLS could not break out pay by gender. So the fact that it could now is good news, meaning the number of women in the profession has increased.
However, the bad news is the disparity in pay by gender reflected in the newly available figures.
The BLS reported that the “median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex” for clergy in 2014 (the last year for which reports are available) show that the average for male clergy was $1,007 per week, while the average for female clergy was $763. This means women make 73 cents to each dollar made by males or approximately $12,000 less per year.
Tobin Grant, in a blog for religionnews.com, commented that this gap is “substantially worse than the national pay gap of 83 cents. The clergy pay gap is even more stark when compared to similar occupations,” he says, especially since the occupation has specific educational requirements and requires credentialing (ordination).
Grant also highlights that the BLS reports weekly earnings, “which generally show less of a gender gap than annual earnings.”
Ministry Matters, points out in an article that the BLS figures report “clergy” as a whole, and some denominations do have less of a gender gap than the average reported. Many denominations do issue their own compensation statistics, and some have mandatory minimums and other guidelines for clergy pay, while others do not.
Even Pope Francis has weighed in on the gender pay gap, with the National Catholic Reporter quoting the Pontiff as saying he supports “with conviction” the right of equal compensation for equal work. “Why is it expected that women must earn less than men?" the article quotes him as saying. "No! They have the same rights. The disparity is a pure scandal."