Why do women charge less? 5 causes of the wage gap

The wage gap is an issue that has not been fully clarified. In recent decades, the presence of women in the workplace has ceased to be an exception and has become an everyday thing.

This is largely due to the fact that at the beginning of this century, many countries in the world introduced the quota law, which required companies to have greater participation by women. However, almost 20 years after this, the wage gap is still present.

Why do we women charge less? 5 causes of the wage gap

The reasons why women receive less income is the subject of many studies. The phenomenon is repeated around the world and the data yield different answers, according to the methodology that has been applied to carry it out.

However, what everyone agrees on is that this salary gap does not exist (because even in some countries it is illegal) when it comes to the same position and the same activities. That is, there is no different tabulation of wages for men and women.

This important data shows that the difference in income between men and women of productive age is due to multiple factors that go beyond the estimation of a salary that is assigned. The causes of the wage gap are more complex than that.

1. The type of jobs

The type of jobs that concentrate the highest hiring of women, register lower salaries. That is to say that in all economic sectors, there are activities to which lower salaries are assigned, either due to little experience or preparation they require, or because in the production chain, this activity is required to have a lower cost to increase the income.

And coincidentally, these activities have traditionally been assigned to women. This does not mean that men cannot exercise them and that if so they are paid more than the rest. No, this is not so, however men seldom resort to applying for these jobs, while women apply more frequently and even working the same number of hours as men in other activities, they receive a lower salary.

2. Difficult access to high-level positions

High-level jobs and strategic positions are still reserved for men. Although the presence of women in the workplace rose from 8% to 44% in the last 15 years, the presence of women in leadership positions, continues to lag behind. The figures are encouraging: the latest Grant Thornton International study revealed that 87% of companies currently have at least one woman in managerial positions.

However, this is still considered as one more reason for the wage gap, since in career advancement, women always lag behind their peers male. This is because there are still prejudices about the leadership capacities of women. For this reason, you can find many women with the same training and experience as their superiors, but earning less and without the possibility of promotion.

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3. Care work

Traditionally, all the work of caring for children and the sick has fallen on women. When there is a family member who needs to be cared for, the first option is for the woman to do it. In the case of children, it is the mother. When there is a sick adult, such as parents or elderly people, it is still the most frequent that it is the woman who is responsible for caring for and attending.

This requires women to combine their work and professional life with working at home.. The consequence is that they receive a lower income because it is not possible for them to take overtime and on many occasions, they request leave of absence that directly affects their salary. It is even common for women to request a reduction in their working hours, in order to reconcile work with family life or care work.

4. Age

The phenomenon of age and the proportion with salary seems not to have evolved. Historically, men have increased their income as their age advances, contrary to what happens with women. This fact has changed in the last decades, but it is a fact that continues. The wage gap between women who are now over 50 years old is 27%, but younger women do not have such a wide margin.

And although the trend indicates that in the coming decades, this percentage will decrease by up to 4%, the fact is that currently women are receiving a lower income as they get older. This is commonly due to the fact that women have long periods of inactivity (due to maternity or caring for the sick or people in the third age) or the lack of updating in their field, frequently for the same reasons as the difficulty in reconciling work life and family.

5. Maternity

Motherhood has become a determining factor for the income of women. Several studies affirm that the wage gap is smaller while women are single and without children (of only 4%) but this percentage increases in an astonishing way when the income of married women and who are already mothers is compared with that of married men with children.

This is totally related to the perception when hiring personnel or considering a promotion. Currently, it is still considered that a married woman with children does not have the ideal time to dedicate to work, and that her priority is her home, so she is considered less suitable for her hiring.

In contrast, male fathers are perceived as people seeking job stability and are more easily taken into account for promotions or new hires.

• To keep learning about feminism: "The 29 Most Outstanding Judith Butler Quotes To Ponder"

Bibliographic references

• The gender pay gap situation in the EU (2018). Taken from https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality/.

• The gender no-pay gap: Women in Spain do twice as much unpaid work as men (2018). Taken from The country.