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The gender pay gap exists in Western industrialized countries, with women earning less than men in the same industry. The gap varies by sector and age group. European countries also have a significant pay gap, with Estonia having the largest gap. Experts argue that the gap is narrowing, but studies show otherwise. The cause for the slow convergence in modern countries is unclear, but discrimination in the job market may be a factor.
The gender pay gap is a sociological trend supported by statistical analyzes showing that women’s average median income is lower than that of their male counterparts in the same industry. While economic inequality by industry is well documented between the sexes in Western industrialized countries, it is not as clearly defined by occupations within industries. With regard to occupations, the argument in gender pay gap studies is that women play more menial roles in occupations due to the glass ceiling, which is a tendency to promote men over women when there are equal qualifications and experience. .
In the United States as of 2009, full-time working women earned, on average, a median weekly income that was 80% of what their male counterparts earned. This varies considerably, however, when looking at economic inequality by sector. In the construction sector, women earned 92.2% as much as men, while in the financial services sector they barely earned above 70% of what men earned. The wage gap between the sexes also varies according to age group, with a smaller wage gap between younger workers and beginners than among older segments of the population.
European Commission statistics show that the gender pay gap is also high in European countries. A 2009 study showed that Estonia had the biggest gap, with men earning, on average, more than 30% more than women. Countries such as Slovenia, Italy and Malta had the lowest income inequality metrics in 2009, with men earning between 2% and 7% more than women overall. On average, women across Europe as a whole in 2009 earned 17% less than men. The reason given for this high variation between nations is that, in countries with low rates of wage discrimination, the female employment rate in low-skilled jobs is lower than elsewhere, and the labor market is not as highly segregated as in other countries. other countries. .
Experts on international inequality often argue that the gender pay gap is narrowing as societies modernize and higher percentages of the population obtain advanced educational degrees. A US Census Bureau study of comparative earnings over several decades, however, does not support this claim. While the US gender pay gap has changed at times, widening in the 1960s and 1990s and closing to some degree in the 1980s, the general trend is for men’s and women’s wages to follow a parallel track.
As broad economic conditions affect wages, men and women fall or rise accordingly, remaining consistently separate from one another. Occupational sex segregation in relation to wage rates shows, if anything, a slower level of convergence in modern countries. The cause for this has not been clearly defined and must go beyond known factors. A 2006 study at Cornell University in the US suggested that “… unmeasured characteristics… in job market discrimination…” were responsible for resistance to the gender pay gap.
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