The gender wage gap is persistent. So are the women trying to close it

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The gender wage gap may be stubborn, but women’s motivation to close it might be even more so. 

That’s the finding of a new report out from Pew that reveals that the wage gap in the U.S. is narrowing — from 33 cents to the dollar in 1980 to 15 cents in 2018 — thanks to women taking over a larger share of high-paying, high-skill jobs in legal, teaching and counseling among other fields. 

More women have now graduated from college than men. Women also hold a slight advantage over their male counterparts in skills that are increasingly in demand. In 2018, women held 52% of U.S. jobs that called for strong social skills — like negotiation and persuasion — and fundamental skills like writing and speaking, according to Pew. In turn, wages for women have grown more rapidly than men in recent years. 

Nevertheless, the gender wage gap is an “enduring disparity in the labor market,” said Rakesh Kochhar, a senior researcher at Pew. Many of the likely causes of this gap — discrimination, motherhood responsibilities and differences in professional networks, to name a few — are outside women’s control. But educational and job choices are potential avenues where women can improve their lot. 

Pew’s report could be an early sign that, if and when the wage gap closes, it will be because women took the matter into their own hands. 

“I think women feel like they need to get more education to offset some of the discrimination in the labor market,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at The Economic Policy Institute. “Today, a woman with an advanced degree on average is paid less than a man with a bachelor’s degree.” 

Previous research has shown that when women enter job fields in greater numbers, pay in those fields declines. When women entered design in larger numbers from 1950 to 2000, for example, wages fell 34 percentage points as the industry became predominantly female. And that’s just one among several examples of this phenomenon. 

Should we expect the same thing to happen all over again? Pew’s Kochhar did not examine this issue in his latest report but he said, on the whole, the high-paying positions women are taking today — like sales managers and accountants — are still relatively high-paying jobs.

Just the same, discrimination remains the biggest barrier between women and equitable pay. Some studies purport that as much as 38% of the pay gap can be attributed to pure discrimination. And at the current rate, the gender wage gap will not go away until 2059, said C. Nicole Mason, President & CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Women entering higher-paying fields may help, but it’s not enough. 

“Women are doing their part,” Mason said. “But it’s the structural issues that are making it hard for them to really get ahead on pay.” 

What’s Working

Not done. Next Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be in Los Angeles covering the MAKERS Conference, sitting down with leaders across industries about what needs to happen in the next decade to make the workplace more equitable. If you’re around, please say hello. And if you have questions for any of the speakers, let me know in the comments below. [MAKERS] 

Ignore the barriers. Katie Sowers made history this week when she became the the first woman and the first openly gay person to coach a team in the Super Bowl. “I ask you to go out into this life and shatter that glass ceiling by doing all you can to ignore the barriers that gender norms create. What you will start to find is simple; you will see children begin to smile more often and you will realize that happiness is fueled by passion... and passion knows no gender,” Sowers wrote on LinkedIn in 2016. [LinkedIn] 

‘Normal to have succession.’ IBM CEO Ginni Rometty shocked many last week when she announced that she was stepping down. While several people pointed out that the small share of female CEOs in the Fortune 500 is now even smaller, we can’t interpret her departure as anything other than a normal succession process. [NYTimes] 

What Isn’t 

Parental leave gap. 80% of working Americans don't receive any paid time off to take care of newborns. While some industries — like finance and tech — are giving parental leave to workers, others like health care and retail are still falling behind. [LinkedIn] 

Lonely at work. A survey of more than 10,000 workers revealed that some 80% of Gen Z employees feel lonely and isolated at work. A difference in communication styles among workers of different generations could be a leading culprit. [WSJ] 

Who’s Pushing Us Forward

What topics do you want to discuss next week? Let me know in the comments below using #WorkingTogether