The gender pay gap explained

The pay gap isn’t an employer literally handing 77 cents to a woman and one whole dollar to a man. There are plenty of pieces of legislation around the world requiring women and men in the same employment performing equal work to receive equal pay.

Last year, the World Economic Forum found the pay gap was widening across professions for the first time since it began collating data on gender and pay in 2006.

The gender pay gap is a term to explain how much money women are paid relative to men.

The pay gap is the consistent pattern of the average of men’s incomes (both in general and in specific fields) being higher than the average of women’s incomes. This average constitutes the 77 cents to the dollar figure. Studies have found that even after factoring for education level, work experience, and geographical region among other variables, there’s still an unexplained gap in the earnings of some women when compared to their male counterparts with the same qualification. This is not caused by women’s choices—it is linked to several different factors.

There is an argument that private sector businesses don’t set salaries; employees get paid what they demand or settle for. If you agree to your employer’s pay terms, that’s your choice. You don’t have to; you can walk into your boss’ office every day and demand more if you’d like. This boss may eventually let you go or pay you more depending on your personal value to the company. The role sets the salary vicinity and the person in the role then demands where within that vicinity they will be paid. Men ask for raises because they work in a climate that encourages them to. Women don’t ask at the same rates as men because they are encouraged not to. Work place intimidation around the discussion of wages creates a climate that can have genders paid differently without workers realising it. At the same time, studies have shown that when women do negotiate, whatever tone they take, it can have a negative impact on their chances of being hired for the job. In repeated studies, the social cost of negotiating for higher pay is higher for women than for men: those in the power position are less inclined to work with the female employee after seeing them negotiate. The Harvard Business Review says women correctly recognise self-advocating for higher pay would present a socially difficult situation for them.

Even when women do successfully negotiate pay rises and promotions, research shows the gender pay gap widens as they advance in their careers with every step up in responsibility increasing the wage disparity. This may be due to women initiating negotiations four times less often than men, and then asking for about 30 percent less when they do.

Occupational sex segregation sees men and women in the same field tracked towards different roles that typically place men higher up in terms of status and pay than women. Gender stereotyping from an early age sees boys directed to building and problem-solving, and girls to caring and service roles: this is best evidenced in the doctor/nurse stereotype.

Gendered socialisation forces encourage men towards subjects that lead to higher paying fields (such as STEM fields), and women towards subjects that lead to lower paying fields (humanities, liberal arts).

Continued gender expectations rooted in traditional patriarchal roles encourage and push mothers to take more time away to raise and care for children while encouraging fathers to do the opposite. Despite drastic societal changes over the past few decades, women still tend to step back from their careers once they have children, while men often continue to climb the ladder—resulting in higher salaries for men and stagnant or temporarily non-existent wages for women. Not to mention, income disparity means when deciding who will take on the majority of the responsibility for childcare, it is the lower salary that is sacrificed; usually the woman’s. Then there’s the motherhood penalty: employers seeing mothers as automatically less dedicated to work and therefore choosing not to hire or promote them (there is no fatherhood penalty; studies found that fathers are actually seen as better job candidates.) This also affects women who are not mothers because employers view them as people who will inevitably become mothers and will therefore be less dedicated. According to the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers in the workplace could affect as many as 54,000 women a year—pushing some women into lesser roles with less chance of promotion and pushing others out the door.

It’s also super important to remember the gaps become even wider when race is factored in, meaning women of colour earn even less than white women in comparison to white men. The gender pay gap is real. The US Institute for Women’s Policy Research found the average female worker loses more than $530,000 over her lifetime. For the average college-educated woman, it’s even worse: she will have lost about $800,000. Don’t forget the trillions of dollars of lost opportunity that women pay as a result of entrenched corporate masculinity.

At the current rate of progress, we will close the gender pay gap in 2133. That’s another 115 years—the likelihood is those fighting for parity now will not see the day this is achieved.