Ref: 6.15 Type: Refereed Paper Stream: Gendered Issues in HRD The Role of Gender in Job Satisfaction of University Staff Members Ali Hajiha Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch Iran a_hajiha@iau-tnb.ac.ir Javad Jassbi Islamic Azad University, Science & Research Branch Iran jassbi@srbiau.ac.ir Farhad ghaffari Islamic Azad University, Science & Research Branch Iran f_ghaffari@yahoo.com Abstract One issue which has always been a matter of discussion in human resources development is sustainable and consistent distribution of facilities between men and women. In fact one of the problems developed countries have is the facility gap between these two genders. An indication of such issue and its index can be sought in their satisfaction. This research attends to the impact of gender on job satisfaction among staff members. The population participating in this research includes four universities which are Azad University branches and campuses. Azad University is now one of the largest universities in the world embracing 300 branches. This research intends to study the extent of satisfaction of the male and female staff members separately in the four mentioned branches. To compare job satisfaction of the staff members, 15 questions were about the various aspects of their jobs and one question was about their gender. To test different proposed hypotheses on job satisfaction in men and women, Mann-Whitney method was used, which is a Nonparametric Statistical Methods. The results obtained from the analysis of the questionnaires show that in all four universities job satisfaction rate was lower among women as compared to that among men. On some indices, the obtained results were not significantly different. However on seven indices the difference is significant, although such a difference may be the effect of different perceptions. The results of the present research can help university managers adopt appropriate strategies to reduce gender discrimination. Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Biographical Characteristics, Gender, Staff Members