We've all heard the statistic that women make $0.77 to every dollar a man makes. There has been a lot of controversy over the wage gap and how it works. Many argue that Kennedy’s Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevent the existence of the wage gap. Others say the statistics don’t lie. So, what is the truth?
The wage gap is not what it seems to be. Although yes, there is a wage gap, and yes it is due to gender discrimination, it is not the exhausted statistic of $0.77 to the dollar. In some cases, this news is great; however, it's not in others. See, the gap is a fluid concept, changing with profession, area, family status, and who is doing the math. There are several factors that come into play here that both sides need to understand and explore. The average overall wage gap, for example, changes with the wage over a period of time. Where an annual salary has a $0.23 to the dollar difference, a weekly salary may have an average of an $0.18-$0.19 (Department of Labor) to the dollar difference. These numbers are calculated for overall wages for full time workers. The range of numbers implies that there are factors that cause differences in the pay, but these also are incredibly misleading.
There are persistent myths that women work less, or gravitate towards lower paying positions, or even the idea that women are a risk to a company due to family duties. This is not the case. Although the wage gap does shift depending on the career, the reality is that direct discrimination against women only accounts for 40% of the wage gap according to economists (D.O.L), leaving 60% due to differences in field. Levels of education or training have an effect on the wage gap, but it is actually out of the favor of the women in question. In short, highly skilled career choices tend to have higher pay gaps.
A study done by Claudia Goldman, a Harvard Labor Economist, showed that female financial specialists only make 66% of the salary of their male counterparts, female doctors make 72% of what male doctors make, and lawyers and judges make 82% of their counterparts overall salary (C. Goldin). The same study also noted a major gap in pay for economists, postsecondary educators, pilots, and computer engineers. Goldin notes that jobs that require increased flexibility, or need their employees on call often pay disproportionately more to the workers who can meet those needs. In higher paying professions, where employees are specialized and often cannot be replaced, the gap widens as women seek jobs that require more set schedules. A prime example here is in Pharmacy, which has the smallest pay gap. Pharmacists are proportionately paid for their work because they can easily substitute out and have a more uniform labor market. The matter here is that women seek positions in their chosen field that often rewards workers who have a higher availability, but disproportionately so, leaving women being underpaid for the same amount of work.
Another common explanation for the wage gap is motherhood. Now, when studied by Stanford, mothers suffered a substantial penalty after having the time off accounted for. Mothers often received, on average, a 5% dock in pay per child (Stanford) and received half of the calls back for jobs non-mothers received. Mothers also were often perceived as less competent in their jobs than non-mothers in evaluations, reducing the opportunities for pay increases and promotions. The same study also examined mothers in managerial positions. Managers that were visibly pregnant were more often referred to as “emotional” and “irrational.” They were also deemed “less dependable and less authoritative.” Overall, mothers are perceived as less committed to their jobs. The same study also examined how the same situation affected men: it was found that fathers are generally held to lower standards than their peers without children, are considered more dependable, and are granted more opportunities than non-fathers. The study itself claims that it is not an intentional act of discrimination, like popular thought suggests. There are no CEO’s huddled in their offices rubbing their hands together maliciously muttering about how they finally put the women in their place. That would be terrible, and incredibly illegal; however, there are decisions based on sexist assumptions with no basis in true fact. Although that discrimination may not be intentional, it is still, in fact, discrimination.
Stereotypes that women are less committed to work than men, or that men are not as strong on the parenting front, are erroneous assumptions that shouldn’t determine someone’s competency in their chosen career or their pay grade. I won’t even begin to discuss the ethical dilemma of paying a working mother less than anyone else. The idea that women are somehow less efficient workers than men is unsubstantiated by science. Studies have shown women have to work harder than their male counter parts in order to be viewed on the same professional level. Mothers have to work twice as hard as non-mothers to prove their commitment to their jobs (Stanford). There is an inherent bias against mothers in the workforce. This is based in the false assumption that mothers are a liability to their jobs—although studies claim otherwise.
The last major myth is that women are paid less because they lack negotiation skills when it comes to asking for raises or promotions. It is not that women lack the skills to negotiate, but rather the opportunity to. Women are expected to follow a social code of “female niceness.” It’s the idea that women are inherently more polite than men and therefore must act in accordance with stricter social standards than men have to. This sets a precedent that women are not allowed to be bold in asking for things, especially from superiors. When a man asks for a raise, it's viewed as a reasonable career move. Often for women, it’s seen as ungrateful or demanding, which results in the fear of reprimand or demotion. The concept of female niceness is what causes women to have fewer opportunities than men in the workforce.
Both sides of the argument oversimplify the wage gap to inaccurate statistics and generalized assumptions. It is a complex concept driven by market factors, social constructs, and stereotypes. Although it may seemingly be due to things that are in the control of women, all too often it is entirely out of our hands. How do we fix this? By changing the conversation on gender roles, parenthood, and gender-based etiquette. This is not simply a matter of “being more bold” as the consequences of such actions are very real. Women deserve to be treated like assets to their workplaces, not liabilities.
