1 KossoverHunter KossoverApril 2015A Closer Look at the Gender Pay GapIntroduction:It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters (Frederic Nietzsche).The objective of this paper will be to perform a thorough reconnaissance of the gender pay gap[footnoteRef:1]. The impetus for this investigation is highly sociological, due to the fact that in western civilization, misogyny is frequently considered to be the sole perpetuator of gender disparity. Consequently, a sizeable portion of the population believes that there is little reason to revise their perspectives concerning the matter (even though figuratively speaking, they are only aware of the tip of this societal iceberg). [1: Thedifferencesbetweenwomenandmen,especiallyasreflectedin social,political,intellectual,cultural,oreconomicattainmentsor attitudes [dictionary.com].]

Analysis:There are several observable factors that attribute to the variance in pay between the genders. The chief elements that statistical economists consider can be summarized as the following:i) On average women tend to work part time considerably more often than their male counterparts.ii) A substantial fraction of women take lengthy leaves of absence in order to fulfill their maternal and familial aspirations. iii) It has been statistically confirmed that women tend to select occupations that have much lower salaries when compared to fields that are male dominated (such as the stem sciences, architecture, etcetera).Subsequent to thoroughly analyzing of each these components (which remain unexploited far too often), it shall become conspicuous that the gender wage gaps antecedent stems from the choices that individuals make according to their own volition[footnoteRef:2]. [2: One might determine that these choices are still indicative of a patriarchal/misogynistic society (this is addressed later on). ]

The statistic, which shows that men tend to work much more frequently than women, has a substantial influence on the gender pay gap. This factor has been assessed thoroughly by numerous statisticians, and is especially important to consider, due to the fact that there are several pieces of legislation that enforce the rewarding of employees for working additional hours (CONSAD 8). Despite the fact that many of the mainstream studies, which produced the well, know thirty-three percent wage gap accounted for this legislation, they only analyzed basic wage fluctuations, and consequently, omitted several crucial variables (CONSAD 9). When factors such as increased work experience, additional prospects for promotion, and accelerated salary growth are considered, the pay gap shrinks considerably. This can be confirmed by observing a 2005 study from The International Review for Applied Economics. This study examines the education, standardized test scores, and marital statuses of the 1994 to 2000 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth cohorts. Subsequent to implementing an analytical regression technique on the data, this study determined that approximately twenty-five percent of the gender wage gap is the result of a difference in worker experience. When considering the fact that a hefty proportion of women will experience career interruptions[footnoteRef:3] (as the result of maternal, or other familial interests such as homemaking), we see that the reasons underlying the gender pay gap become even more conspicuous. This is due to the principle that an employees pay rate is not only proportional to their occupational proficiency, but in addition, it is closely related to the time frame that their work schedule remains uninterrupted. Researchers have extrapolated that, subsequent to incorporating this factor into their calculations, the average wage gap between men and women increases by seven percent during the first ten years subsequent to graduating from college (Light and Ureta 123). It is perhaps worth noting here that copious research is also insinuative of the fact that women who return to work (subsequent to a lengthy leave of absence), on average, earn a higher percentage of their former salary, when compared to men that left for the same period of time (CONSAD 10). However, because considerably larger portions of women take such leaves of absence, there are greater implications on the average earnings of the gender as a whole. [3: The ratio of men to women that have a career in homemaking is eight one-hundredths to one (CONSAD table 4).]

Occupational differences between men and women are exceedingly important to consider when analyzing the gender pay gap [footnoteRef:4]. In lower paying occupations such as education, training, personal care, and library studies, women outnumber men two to one (CONSAD 17). Analogously, men greatly outnumber women in the fields of mathematics, construction, transportation, and maintenance (see footnote for more notable occupational gender ratios)[footnoteRef:5]. This disproportionality in occupational inclination accounts for the majority of the pay gap. In fact, researchers have found a direct proportionality between the that the degree to which a study considers these variances in occupational preferences, and the percentage of the wage gap that these inclinations account for (specified in footnote 4). [4: This is due to the fact that occupational preferences typically account for fifty to as much as eighty percent of the wage gap (depending on the diversity of occupations that the data considers) (CONSAD 7).] [5: Some of the more notable cases of male: female occupational ratios are as follows: Construction (37:1); Maintenance/installation (22:1); healthcare services that exclude hospitals (1:30); Architecture/engineering (6:1) [CONSAD tables 3 and 4];]

The extent to which occupational preference influences the gender wage gap is made clear by a study 1991 study published in The Journal of Human Resources. After analyzing the salaries of workers within the individual job cells of a several industries, the study found no clear indicator of a gender pay gap. However, the study did display that the job cells within these industries were astonishingly homogenous. The incongruent gender populations within these industrial job cells, according to this study, accounts for no less than fifty percent of the gender wage gap. In addition Groshen (the woman who conducted the study) makes certain to point out that, according to her findings, distinct income equations must be utilized in order to properly analyze the wage gap between the genders, as a uniform equation would assert (incorrectly), equivalent coefficients for men and women. Before concluding our analysis of the role occupational preferences play in the gender wage gap, it is important to address the argument that states: Women are societally marginalized, and consequently, brainwashed into picking careers that pay less. In order to debunk this argument, let us observe the fact that according to a 2009 study, which surveyed thousands of high schools throughout the United States it was discovered that, on average, female valedictorians intended to peruse professions that paid seventy-five-thousand dollars a year, while male valedictorians chose careers that paid one-hundred-thousand dollars per year (these were, of course, based upon the median salaries of their career choices). Therefore, it utterly fallacious to suggest that young females are navely swindled into selecting lower paying occupations, as even the women that have proven their academic superiority over their entire graduating class choose jobs that have significantly lower paying salaries than their male valedictorian counterparts. Subsequent to observing several key socioeconomic factors that influence the gender wage gap, we have found that well known the thirty-three percent statistic is exceedingly debatable, and perhaps, even specious. The intent of this paper was not to put an actual number on the wage gap (as different studies will yield different results), but rather, to display that much of what our society perceives as misogynistic, is actually explicable through a systematic reconnaissance.

Bibliography:Anderson, D. J., Binder, M., & Krause, K. (2003, January) the motherhood wage penalty revisited: Experience, heterogeneity, work effort, and work- schedule flexibility. Industrial and Labor Relations Review CONSAD Research Corporation (2009, January) An Analysis of the Reasons for the Disparity in Wages Between Men and Women: Final Report U.S. Department of Labor Employment Standards Administration Gabriel, P.E. (2005, July) The effects of differences in year-round, full-time labor market experience on gender wage levels in the United States.Groshen, E. (1991) The structure of the female/male wage differential: Is it who you are, what you do, or where you work? Journal of Human Resources Light, A. & Ureta, M. (1995) Early-career work experience and gender wage differentials. Journal of Labor EconomicsSteinberg, Jacques (June 1, 2009)."Do the Ambitions of High School Valedictorians Differ by Gender?" New York Times