Definition
Pay inequity between men and women in the same position is defined as inequal pay and is consistently found across the globe in varying degrees and in many different sectors of labor (UN 2015). Inequal pay within an organization or within the labor market leads to a difference in average earnings between men and women, which is defined as the gender wage gap. The European Union defines the gender wage gap as “the relative difference in the average gross hourly earnings of women and men within the economy as a whole” (European Commission 2012). Statistically, this difference at the time of writing means about 20% lower earnings for women or 83 cents for every US dollar earned by a man (Geiger and Parker 2018). This means that over the course of a 40-year career, a woman experiences a lifetime wage gap of $403,440 (NWLC 2018).
Introduction
Goal 5 of the United Nation Sustainable...
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Aisenbrey S, Evertsson M, Grunow D (2009) Is there a career penalty for mothers’ time out? A comparison of Germany, Sweden and the United States. Soc Forces, Oxford University Press 88(2):573–605
American Association of University Women (2016) The simple truth about the gender pay gap: AAUW. American Association of University Women. https://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/. Accessed 3 Jul 2018
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017) Labor force, Australia Jan 2017. Australian Bureau of Statistics, c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of Statistics
Badgett MVL, Lau H, Sears B, Ho D (2007) Bias in the workplace: consistent evidence of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles
Beaman L, Duflo E, Pande R, Topalova P (2012) Female leadership raises aspirations and educational attainment for girls: a policy experiment in India. Science (New York), NIH Public Access 335(6068):582–586
Berdahl JL, Moore C (2006) Workplace harassment: double jeopardy for minority women. J Appl Psychol 91:426–436
Bershidsky L (2018) No, iceland hasn’t solved the gender pay gap – Bloomberg. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-04/no-iceland-hasn-t-solved-the-gender-pay-gap. 5 July 2018
Bianchi SM, Sayer LC, Milkie MA, Robinson JP (2012) Housework: who did, does or will do it, and how much does it matter? Soc Forces, Oxford University Press 91(1):55–63
Black SE, Schanzenbach DW, Breitwieser A (2017) The recent decline in women’s labor force participation. In: Whitmore Schanzenbach D, Nunn R (eds) The 51% driving growth through women’s economic participation, Washington, DC, p 9
Blau FD, Kahn LM (2017) The gender wage gap: extent, trends, and explanations. J Econ Lit 55(3):789–865
Blickenstaff CJ (2005) Women and science careers: leaky pipeline or gender filter? Gend Educ, Taylor & Francis Group 17(4):369–386
Boris E, Nadasen P (2008) Domestic workers organize! Work USA, Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111) 11(4):413–437
Bruckmüller S, Branscombe NR (2010) The glass cliff: when and why women are selected as leaders in crisis contexts. Br J Soc Psychol 49(3):433–451
Budig MJ, England P (2001) The wage penalty for motherhood. Am Sociol Rev, American Sociological Association 66(2):204
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2018) Employed persons by detailed industry, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18.htm. 7 July 2018
Burke RJ, Mattis MC (2007) Women and minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: upping the numbers. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Carrell S, Page M, West J (2009) Sex and science: how professor gender perpetuates the gender gap. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA
Carter ME, Franco F, Gine M (2017) Executive gender pay gaps: the roles of female risk aversion and board representation. Contemp Account Res, Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111) 34(2):1232–1264
Cech EA (2013) Ideological wage inequalities? The technical/social dualism and the gender wage gap in engineering. Soc Forces 91(4):1147–1182
Crittenden A (2002) The price of motherhood: why the most important job in the world is still the least valued. 323. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109902173010
Croson R, Gneezy U (2009) Gender differences in preferences. J Econ Lit 47(2):448–474
Daneshvary N, Waddoups C, Wimmer BS (2009) Previous marriage and the lesbian wage premium. Ind Relat 48(3):432–453. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-232X.2009.00567.x
Desta Y (2018) The hollywood wage gap isn’t getting better – but actresses are pushing back|vanity fair. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/01/hollywood-wage-gap-times-up. 5 July 2018
European Commission (2012) The gender pay gap situation in the EU. https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/gender-equality/equal-pay/gender-pay-gap-situation-eu_en. 3 July 2018
Geiger A, Parker K (2018) A look at gender gains and gaps in the U.S.|Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/15/for-womens-history-month-a-look-at-gender-gains-and-gaps-in-the-u-s/. 3 July 2018
Glass C, Cook A (2016) Leading at the top: understanding women’s challenges above the glass ceiling. Leadersh Q JAI 27(1):51–63
Gneezy U, Niederle M, Rustichini A (2003) Performance in competitive environments: Gender differences. Quarterly Journal of Economics. https://doi.org/10.1162/00335530360698496
Golbeck AL, Ash A, Gray M, Gumpertz M, Jewell NP, Kettenring JR, Singer JD, Gel YR (2016) A conversation about implicit bias. Statist J IAOS, IOS Press 32(4):739–755
Goodman JM, Guendelman S, Kjerulff KH (2017) Antenatal maternity leave and childbirth using the first baby study: a propensity score analysis. Womens Health Issues 27(1):50–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2016.09.006
Guarino CM, Borden VMH (2017) Faculty service loads and gender: are women taking care of the academic family? Res High Educ, Springer Netherlands 58(6):672–694
Guendelman S, Goodman J, Kharrazi M, Lahiff M (2014) Work–family balance after childbirth: the association between employer-offered leave characteristics and maternity leave duration. Matern Child Health J 18(1):200–208
Hochschild A, Machung A (1989) The second shift: Working families and the revolution at home. The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home
Horne RM, Johnson MD, Galambos NL, Krahn HJ (2018) Time, money, or gender? Predictors of the division of household labour across life stages. Sex Roles, Springer US 78(11–12):731–743
Ilo.org. (2017) Breaking barriers: Unconscious gender bias in the workplace. [online] Available at: https://www.ilo.org/actemp/publications/WCMS_601276/lang--en/index.htm [Accessed 20 Jun 2019]
Longhi S (2017) The disability pay gap. Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Research Report Series. Available at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/pay-gaps, Manchester M4 3AQ UK
Miegroet, Helga (2019) Advancement To The Highest Faculty Ranks In Academic STEM: Explaining The Gender Gap At USU. Digitalcommons@USU. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6936/. Accessed 20 Jun 2019
Muralidharan K, Sheth K (2016) Bridging education gender gaps in developing countries: the role of female teachers. J Hum Resour, University of Wisconsin Press 51(2):269–297
National Committee on Pay Equity (2018) Equal pay day. National Committee on Pay Equity. https://www.pay-equity.org/day.html. 3 July 2018
National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (2017) Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering: 2017. Special Report NSF 17–310. Arlington. Available at www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/
National Women’s Law Center (2018) The lifetime wage gap, state by state – NWLC. National Women’s Law Center. https://nwlc.org/resources/the-lifetime-wage-gap-state-by-state/. 3 July 2018
Nielsen MW, Alegria S, Börjeson L, Etzkowitz H, Falk-Krzesinski HJ, Joshi A, Leahey E, Smith-Doerr L, Woolley AW, Schiebinger L (2017) Opinion: gender diversity leads to better science. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, National Academy of Sciences 114(8):1740–1742
O’Neil DA, Hopkins MM (2015) The impact of gendered organizational systems on women’s career advancement. Front Psychol, Frontiers 6:905
Olafsdottir K (2018) Iceland is the best, but still not equal. Søkelys på arbeidslivet, Universitetsforlaget 35(1–2):111–126
Oyanedel-Craver V, Cotel A, Saito L, Abu-Dalo M, Gough H, Verstraeten I (2017) Women–water Nexus for sustainable global water resources. J Water Resour Plan Manag 143(8):01817001
Palvia A, Vähämaa E, Vähämaa S (2015) Are female CEOs and chairwomen more conservative and risk averse? Evidence from the banking industry during the financial crisis. J Bus Ethics, Springer Netherlands 131(3):577–594
De Pater IE, Judge TA, Scott BA (2014) Age, Gender, and Compensation. Journal of Management Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492613519861
Press Association (2014) 40% of managers avoid hiring younger women to get around maternity leave. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/12/managers-avoid-hiring-younger-women-maternity-leave. Accessed 20 Jun 2019
Progress of the World’s Women 2015–2016 (2015) Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016. https://doi.org/10.18356/2d5f74e3-en
Rosser SV (2004) The science glass ceiling. Routledge, New York
Schilt K, Wiswall M (2008) Before and after: gender transitions, human capital, and workplace experiences. The B.E. J Econ Anal Policy, De Gruyter 8(1). https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.1862
Sears B, Mallory C (2011) Documented evidence of employment discrimination & its effects on LGBT people discrimination based on sexual orientation during the five years prior to the survey, General Social Survey, 2008
Sen A (2001) The many faces of gender inequality. The New Republic, 35–39
Smith N, Smith V, Verner M (2006) Do women in top management affect firm performance? A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms. Int J Product Perform Manag, Emerald Group Publishing Limited 55(7):569–593
Spear MG (1984) The biasing influence of pupil sex in a science marking exercise. Res Sci Technol Educ, Taylor & Francis Group 2(1):55–60
The Economist (2009) The glass ceiling. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/13604240
The World Bank (2018) Labor force, female (% of total labor force)|Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.FE.ZS?end=2017&start=1990&view=chart&year_high_desc=false. 19 Aug 2018
UN (2015) Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. A/RES/70/1. United Nations General Assembly. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0173-7.2
UN Women (2017) What does gender have to do with reducing and addressing disaster risk? UN Women. http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2017/5/compilation-women-in-disaster-risk-reduction. Accessed 20 Jun 2019
United Nations (2015) The world’s women 2015: trends and statistics|multimedia library – United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division, New York. https://doi.org/10.18356/9789210573719
UNESCO (2018) Women in Science: The gender gap in science. UNESCO Statistics
United States Department of Labor (2018) Women’s Bureau (WB) most common occupations for women. United States Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/most_common_occupations_for_women.htm. Accessed 3 Jul 2018
Walpole B (2018) Bridging the gender wage gap. ASCE News. https://news.asce.org/bridging-the-gender-wage-gap/. Accessed 7 July 2018
Wilson V (2015) Women are more likely to work multiple jobs than men|Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/women-are-more-likely-to-work-multiple-jobs-than-men/. Accessed 3 Jul 2018
Wodon QT, de la Brière B (2018) Unrealized potential: the high cost of gender inequality. World Bank, Washington, DC
Wolfers J (2015) Fewer women run big companies than men named John – The New York Times. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/upshot/fewer-women-run-big-companies-than-men-named-john.html. Accessed 3 Jul 2018
World Bank (2010) World Development Indicators (WDI)
Xu Y (2015) Focusing on women in STEM: a longitudinal examination of gender-based earning gap of college graduates. J High Edu 86(4):489–523
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Schifman, L., Oden, R., Koestner, C. (2021). Gender Wage Gap: Causes, Impacts, and Ways to Close the Gap. In: Leal Filho, W., Marisa Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95687-9_50
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95687-9_50
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95686-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95687-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials Science