Why do women charge less than men?

Despite advances in equality, there is a marked wage gap. Although in recent decades women have almost equaled the percentage of men in the work environment, they continue to earn less.

This phenomenon is multifactorial and to tell the truth no one has not given a conclusive explanation. There are many studies that have been done in this regard to find a compelling reason and of course, take steps to make this change.

Is it true that women charge less than men?

There are countries that have already taken legislative measures to minimize this phenomenon. However, in most countries, women earn less than men. Even though the tabulations for each job title are the same for both.

So what happens? In reality, there are few vacancies that make a distinction of pay according to the gender of the person. Despite the difference in the perception of wages, it is due to other types of factors and circumstances.

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1. Maternity

The most frequent factor in the salary difference is maternity.

When men and women enter the labor market, the pay gap is not that wide. The two can aspire to similar jobs with similar salaries if the two have a similar age and educational range.

However motherhood makes this change drastically. Having children directly intervenes in the income of women, although it is not the case of men. Maternity leave is higher for women almost everywhere in the world. There are some exceptions where men have the same time as her when a child is born.

However, even at this stage, wages between one and the other do not differ that much. It is with the passage of time that the income of women is diminished since the care that the children require falls most of the time on them. This causes a series of consequences directly related to monetary income.

The women themselves give priority to caring for the family, which due to labor policies that do not consider This factor, makes work go to a second priority and with this the chances of job growth decrease. It becomes more difficult for them to cover extra shifts or participate in activities outside of working hours.

Even the possibility of continuing to study to stay updated becomes more complex, which also reduces the salary they can access. On the other hand, when hired, recruiters consider that women do not have enough time and commitment, while men are perceived as more responsible when they are already they have children.

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2. Type of jobs

Statistically there are jobs for men and women. Despite the fact that we currently live in a world with greater equality, it is still conceived that some types of work are almost exclusively for men or women. Historically these men's jobs are considered more specialized or dangerous and therefore pay more.

It is complex to make a comparison on the income of men and women when different types of jobs are taken as a reference. However, it is a fact that the difference in wage income between men and women can be explain that access to specialized or better paid jobs is more complicated for they.

Either because they are considered higher risk jobs, require more preparation, are strategic positions where important decisions are made or there is a management of large work teams, historically these positions have been assigned to men at the same time that they are assigned a salary higher.

Conversely, care work (nursing, babysitting, teachers, housework) has been conceived as almost exclusively for women and of less importance, thus granting them a lower remuneration compared to other types of work, even if it is carried out in the same number of hours.

Although the feminist struggle for gender equality has been reversing this phenomenon, it is currently still observed that statistically women tend to occupy the same jobs, and that these are still considered of less importance, so wages remain stagnant, resulting in lower income for women.

3. Glass roof

Gender studies have called a phenomenon about the limited access of women to high-level positions as a glass ceiling. In most of the world, women have access to education under the same or similar conditions as men. It has even been shown that women are more prepared than they on average.

On average women study more than men. They have more specialties, masters and refresher coursesHowever, the strategic positions of large companies are still mostly occupied by men. The glass ceiling refers to this phenomenon that occurs within many organizations.

Another important piece of information is age. A man who is a father of a family and is also over 35 years old, is considered stable, with more experience and with more leadership skills, so you can begin to aspire to promotions, especially in high-level, strategic and management positions. leadership.

This is not the case with women. There is still a prejudice that women are not qualified for these types of positions and that, in addition, the older they are, the less likely they are to exercise well. For this reason it is said that in organizations there is a glass ceiling that does not allow the majority of women move up under the same conditions and with the same opportunities as their peers mens.

Bibliographic references

• Heilman, R. M., & Kusev, P. (2017). The Gender Pay Gap: Can Behavioral Economics Provide Useful Insights?. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 95. doi: 10.3389 / fpsyg.2017.00095.
• Waters, A. (2018) Is there actually a gender pay gap? Veterinary Record 182, 233.
• Le, A. T., Miller, P. W., Slutske, W. S., & Martin, N. G. (2011). ATTITUDES TOWARDS ECONOMIC RISK AND THE GENDER PAY GAP. Labor economics, 18 (4), 555–561. doi: 10.1016 / j.labeco.2010.12.007.