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Why Do Women Get Paid Less Than Men? Anne Laughlin Professor Lambert Honors Project Business, Government and Regulation December 11, 2014

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Most women and other minority groups such as Latin Americans and

African Americans still face problems in getting paid equally as their male

counterparts for doing the same exact job. The reasons why they tend to get paid

less is because they get offered less when starting the job, they take time off to

raise their children, they need flexible hours and cannot work as many hours as

their male counterparts, they are less likely to ask for a pay raise than men, they

gravitate to positions that tend to pay less and they have a harder time getting

promoted than men. The government has stepped in and created the Equal Pay

Act of 1963 which helped closed the gap, but there is still a long way to go.

One of the arguments against the pay difference between males and

females is that women are taking lower paying jobs. The chart below compares

the compensation for men and women for different jobs in restaurants. The

difference between males and

females when they first start

working at the restaurant is

very small. The smallest gap is

between a male and female

cashier when the difference is

only $0.04 an hour as a cashier

and then gradually increases to $3.91 an hour as a manager. (Ferdman) The pay

difference has nothing to do with the fact that women are taking jobs that pay less

because women are getting paid less to do the same job. One could argue that

women might be getting paid less due to the fact that they are getting extra

benefits that men do not, get such as flexible hours.

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According to the chart on the right, the pay

difference between men and women depends on

the type of career, with the biggest gap in what are

considered to be male-dominated careers. (Miller).

For instance, there is a substantial gap in finance,

where women are only making 66 percent of what

males are making. On the other hand, in female

careers such as nursing the pay gap is much

smaller with only an 89 percent difference. This

raises the question of whether or not women are

paid less in certain positions because of the fact

that these jobs are considered something either a

man or a woman can do. Positions that are

considered male-dominated are also associated

with personality characteristics such as aggression,

qualities women are not generally thought to have.

(Knowledge @ Wharton)

This assumption is one of the main reasons

why “women still are much more likely to enter

occupations where the majority of workers are

female, including the health care, education and

human services fields. In addition, over half of all

women continue to be employed in lower-paying

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sales, service and administrative support positions. Despite substantial gains in

the management fields, women still lag behind in other non-traditional fields

such as transportation, construction, and the science, technology, engineering

and mathematics (STEM) fields.” (Equal Pay Task Force ). Barbulescu analyzed

1,255 men and women who just graduated from a large, elite, one-year MBA

program and the types of jobs that they apply for after graduating. He found that

women tend to not apply for finance and consulting jobs that men applied for,

but apply for general management jobs instead. He concludes that the reason for

the pay gap because the jobs men were applying for pay a lot more than the jobs

that the females were applying for. (Knowledge @ Wharton)

Barbulescu argues that the reason women do not apply for these jobs

instead has to do with the work-life balance that such jobs offer them. Consulting

jobs, for example, tend to require a lot of nights in a hotel room, something that

most women would prefer not to do. This may be due to the fact that women have

a lot of household responsibilities that men typically do not have. (Knowledge @

Wharton)

Another reason Barbulescu suggests is that women are less likely to apply

to a job where they do not think they will get. For example, Barbulescu points to

the fact that women are less likely to apply for investment banking positions

because they feel they are less likely to get these jobs than males when in reality

they have the same chance of getting the job. But this does not mean that there is

not gender segregation once they get into the company. (Knowledge @ Wharton)

Women tend to not get promoted as quickly or as often as their male

counterparts even though they have the same level of education and the same

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amount of experience. In fact, only 3 to 4 percent of CEOs are women while

almost half of the lower-level employees are women. (Sherwin) Silva et al. suggest

that one of the reasons given for this disparity is that mentor programs many

companies offer are not equally beneficial for women as for men. For example,

an interview was conducted with forty high-potential men and women who were

selected by their multinational company to take part in a mentorship program in

2008. The interviewers describe a relationship between a mentor and mentee

called sponsorship, in which the mentor uses his or her influence to advocate for

a mentee for promotions. Silva et al found that men tend to be sponsored more

often than women, putting women at a real disadvantage. They did a follow-up

survey in 2010 in which they found 15 percent more of the men were given

promotions, at the same time the men had an equal number of lateral moves

within the company as women. The women were given lateral moves within the

company instead of getting

promotions like the men. (Silva,

Carter and Ibarra)

Women tend to be over-

looked for the upper-level

management positions that are

typically given to men, even though

there are several studies that argue

that women are actually better

leaders than males. Sherwin

(Sherwin) 1

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conducted a survey of just under 16,000 leaders, of which two-thirds were male

and one-third were female. The results on the previous page show that women

ranked better than males in twelve out of sixteen specific categories. One of the

reasons for this difference is in the words of a respondent, “In order to get the

same recognition and rewards, I need to do twice as much, never make a mistake

and constantly demonstrate my competence.” (Sherwin) While this is a sad truth

that many women feel this way, it also means that they are more likely to work

harder than their male counterparts to make sure that projects and tasks are

perfect. Women are typically viewed as more effective leaders as they move up

the ladder of a company, which means that there is no reason why companies

should not promote their women to higher positions. Women performed better

than men in fields that were typically considered male-dominated such as

engineering, IT and research and development. (Sherwin)

Another reason that women might not rank as highly as men in the

category of taking initiative might be due to the fact that women tend to pull

double duty as both employees and homemakers. (Sherwin) Women are still

pulling more weight around the house, according to the Time Use Data survey

that was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On an average week, women

spend 2.6 hours doing household chores compared to the 2.1 hours that men

spend doing the same work. On a daily basis, 49 percent of women do housework

such as cleaning or laundry compared to the 19 percent of men. This means that

women are less likely to work as many hours or require flexible hours because

they need to take care of the household responsibilities. (Sifferlin)

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Women are more likely to stay at home and take care of the children in

addition to doing the households for a couple of reasons. In order for both

parents to work after having children, they either need to hire someone to watch

the children or one of them typically the women needs to stop working to raise

the child. This means that while the woman is being a stay-at-home mom, her

male counterpart is in the office gaining valuable experience that will allow him

to get more promotions and a higher salary.

There are a number of reasons that make it so women are not able to

return to the workforce as soon as they would like. The first is that women cannot

afford to work. In order for the women to go back into the office, they have to pay

for someone to watch the child. The map above shows that generally parents will

pay $8,280 to $11,700 for childcare. The cheapest is $5,467 in Alabama while

Tran 1

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the most expensive is $21,948 in the District of Columbia. On top of the cost of

day care, someone has to watch the children when they come home from school

and drive them to activities such as dance, soccer, etc. In addition, someone has

to stay home with the children throughout school breaks and take care of the

children when they are sick. Most couples find that it makes more sense for the

women to stay home than to get a part-time job that will not cover the costs of

childcare. (Tran)

Another factor that might contribute to the speed with which women

return to the workforce is the amount of maternity leave women are given.

According to an article that appeared in Canadian Business Week, the amount of

parental leave was just increased from ten to thirty-five weeks combined with the

fifteen weeks of maternity leave that they are already given. A company does not

want to pay for the training a new employee who would need just to have her

leave for a full year or who might only return part-time or not return at all after

having her child. Maternity leave can also cause other employees in the company

or department to increase their workload to cover for the women on leave.

(Canadian Business )

In addition, women are less likely to get paid the same as men because

they are less likely to negotiate a pay rise than their male counterparts even

though they feel underpaid. In a 2006, survey Saner discovered “that while 80

percent of women felt underpaid, two-thirds had never asked for more money –

and those who had described it as one of the most stressful things they'd ever

done.” (Saner) Men, on the other hand, have no hesitation asking for a pay raise

and explaining to their bosses why they deserve more money. Part of this has to

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do with the different way in which men and women are raised. Women are

viewed differently than men when they talk to their bosses about compensation.

While it is seen as socially acceptable for men to talk to their bosses about

compensation, women who do the same are viewed as greedy or money-hungry.

Sara Laschever, co-author of the book Why Women Don't Ask, writes, "We like

girls to be nice, pliable, pleasant, accommodating, while boys are taught to be

self-promoting, to be a little tough guy. Boys are encouraged to set goals and

taught how to go about reaching them; girls are taught to think about the needs

of a group.” (Saner) This means that women are encouraged to think about how

asking for pay raise might affect the other people in the office they know are

counting on their bonuses to pay their bills. Men, on the other hand, will only

consider themselves.

Another major difference is the amount of hours women work compared

to their male counterparts. On average, when a man and a women work in an

office, the male will work an extra fifty-three minutes compared to the women.

(Sifferlin) As Claudia Gould, a labor economist at Harvard University, observes,

“The gender gap in pay would be considerably reduced and might vanish all

together if firms did not have an incentive to disproportionately reward

individuals who labored long hours and worked particular hours.” (Richards)

The chart on the next page shows how the total hours worked by

Americans compares with their counterparts in other countries. As the chart

indicates, the typical American tend to work 1,700 hours a year, which is about

thirty-three hours a week indicated by the blue line. This is a lot better than some

other countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong, while other

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countries, such as

France and Germany,

work less hours a year

than Americans do.

(Weisenthal) So if the

average amount of hours

being worked is the

issue, this means France

and Germany should

have a more equal pay

rate than the United States; however French

women get paid 50 percent less while in China,

where they work more, women are paid 63

percent of what men are paid and the United States women are paid 66 percent of

what men are paid. (Kottasova) This means that there is no global consensus on

the amount of hours worked and the connection with equality in pay between

men and women. So if changing the amount of hours the country’s working is

not going to solve the problem of pay inequality, what will?

In 1963 President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act.

This was the first law to address the issue that companies were paying women

less to do the same job as men simply because they were women. This act

required companies to pay women equally for jobs that are equal or substantially

equal in content as men. This legislation has greatly helped women in their battle

to achieve equal pay. In 1963, women were paid 59 cents for every dollar that a

France- Red Singapore- Maroon South Korea- Orange Hong Kong- Purple Germany –Green

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man earned; by 2011 women’s pay had increased to 77 cents for every dollar a

man earned. (Equal Pay Task Force ) Although the law has helped in the struggle

for women to be paid the same as men, there still needs to be a culture change to

ensure that men and women have the same opportunities.

This may be difficult to accomplish. The editor of Vogue drew fire for an

editorial entitled, “Year-long maternity leave, flexi hours and four day

weeks…why would ANY boss hire a woman?” (Canadian Business ). This is only

one of many statements saying that women are essentially asking too much of

their employers because they need flexible hours to take care of their children

and complete other household duties. By the same token, what would happen if

men started taking the same benefits and had the same responsibilities that

women do?

It is important to divide women workers into two different groups. There

is one group made up of women with young children; they have to work a more

flexible schedule so that they can be home to watch their children, take care of

household responsibilities, and drive their kids to their after-school activities. I

think that it is fair for this group of women to be paid less because, when they are

taking care of their children, they are not being as productive at work as the men

who are actively in the office working. This means that they are not working as

many hours and being as productive as their male counterparts and should be

compensated accordingly. Although these women are not getting paid at the same

rate as male employees, they utilize extra benefits that their male counterparts

are not.

This group of women negatively affects the second group of women in the

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workforce. These women work as many hours as the men and do not need the

flexible hours that the first group of women require: their kids are older; they

have someone who can watch the children; or various other reasons. It is unfair

to underpay this group of women because they are doing the same amount of

work as their male co-workers and not taking the same benefits as the first group

of women.

An appropriate solution could be to offer men the same benefits that

women get, such as flexible time and paternity leave. This would give men and

women equal benefits and would eliminate the need for women to be paid less

than male co-workers. In order for this to happen, there needs to be a cultural

shift that encourages companies to give male employees these same benefits.

The only way that this will actually happen is if the government passes

legislation requiring that companies give their male employees these benefits.

Companies are not going to give employees extra benefits that no other company

is offering unless the government forces them to. However, the government will

not pass a law until there is a cultural shift. Unfortunately, this is a shift that

needs to come from men. In Canada this shift has already started to occur, with

more men taking advantage of parental leave because grandparents, who have

typically taken the responsibility for watching the children during the day, are

still in the workforce. This change will start to occur slowly as it becomes harder

for women to do everything and men have to pitch in and help out around the

house more. This will require them to need more of the flexible hours that women

already have . This will make the benefits more equal between men and women.

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