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Is the Gender Pay Gap Real?

2016-02-02 · explainer · John · 5:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Explainer · tags: self correction

Revisiting his earlier '77 cents' claim after commenters called the wage gap a myth, John argues that the US gender pay gap is real but complex: part is direct discrimination (especially against mothers), part reflects choices, and much comes from social expectations such as women's unpaid work.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John recalls his 77-cents claim, the commenters' pushback, and his plan to share what he learned

  • ★★ John recalls saying in an earlier video that US women make 77 cents per dollar men make, and many commenters pushed back that the wage gap is a debunked myth. — 00:00:02 · United States

00:00:29 — Size of the gap by country and US measure, the 4-8% unexplained gap due to discrimination, and the racial pay gap

  • ★★★ John says there is a gender pay gap among full-time workers worldwide, varying by country: New Zealand women earn 90 cents per man's dollar, South Korean women 62 cents. — 00:00:32
  • ★★ John says the US gap depends on the measure: about 16% by hourly wage, 18-19% by weekly take-home pay, around 21% by annual earnings. — 00:00:49 · United States
  • ★★ John corrects himself: men do not work more hours than women on average, but they work more paid hours. — 00:01:07
  • ★★★ Adjusting for education, skills, experience and occupation shrinks the gap to 4-8%, the 'unexplained' gap that most nonpartisan analyses attribute directly to gender discrimination. — 00:01:14
  • ★★ John says even the conservative end of the 4-8% gap means women lose over 241 million dollars of pay every year to direct discrimination. — 00:01:42
    • a number in question (doubtful): "over 241 million dollars" — check against the recording
  • ★★ John adds that the US also has a wide racial pay gap, with overwhelming evidence (discussed in an earlier Vlogbrothers video) that much of it is due to direct discrimination. — 00:01:53 · United States, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Since race and gender shape people before they work, causes are hard to disentangle, but women of color are doubly disadvantaged in pay regardless of skill, experience or education. — 00:02:03

00:02:15 — Choice versus social expectations: occupations, pay gaps within professions, unpaid work and the motherhood penalty

  • ★★★ John says part of the US gap is due to discrimination but most is ostensibly about choice of majors, hours or occupation, which is what 'debunking' the gap usually means. (hedged) — 00:02:15 · United States
  • ★★ Women on average work fewer hours and in less lucrative professions than men; one study of over 120 professions found more women than men in nine of the ten lowest-paying jobs. — 00:02:30
  • ★★★ John argues occupational sorting is not only choice but also social expectations, asking why there are more female nurse anesthetists but more male anesthesiologists. — 00:02:49
  • ★★ The pay gap persists within almost all professions, from computer programmers to teachers to lawyers. — 00:02:58
  • ★★★ Men work more paid hours partly because of unpaid work: the average American woman spends 167 minutes a day on housework or household care, the average man 101. — 00:03:08 · United States
  • ★★★ Not criticizing those who work less to focus on childcare or housework, John says women's disproportionate unpaid labor inevitably distorts the paid labor market. — 00:03:29
  • ★★★ With each child a family has, women's average income relative to men's falls, by about 7.5% after the first child. — 00:03:43
  • ★★ In a study a Stanford professor sent fictitious resumes and found mothers were less likely to be offered jobs and were offered lower starting salaries. — 00:03:58
  • ★★ Men, by contrast, seem to fare better in employment opportunities and wages after having children. (hedged) — 00:04:10

00:04:16 — The gap grows with age, men advance in female-dominated careers, the gap is consistent across fields and won't close until 2058

  • ★★ John says this may partly explain why the gap worsens over time: near 10% from young adulthood to about 35, when it jumps. (hedged) — 00:04:16
  • ★ One study of business school graduates found a relatively small gap right out of school but a much larger one eight years later. — 00:04:24
  • ★★ Even in careers dominated by women, men disproportionately advance to supervisory roles, such as male librarians becoming library directors. — 00:04:31
  • ★ Large pay gaps remain within careers that employ mostly women, such as nursing and librarianship. — 00:04:42
  • ★★★ Unless the data is cherry-picked, a real and consistent gender pay gap exists across almost all fields, education levels and ages. — 00:04:48
  • ★★ At the current rate of change, the US gender wage gap won't close until 2058. — 00:04:58 · United States

00:05:03 — Conclusion: the gap is real but a web of choices, discrimination and the social construction of gender, which we can change

  • ★★★ John concludes there is a gender pay gap, but it is not as simple as 77 or 79 cents per dollar; it is a complicated web of interwoven factors. — 00:05:03

    “it is not as simple as women making 77 or 79 cents for every dollar men make”

  • ★★ Some of the gap reflects positive, empowered choices by individual women to work less or in fields they find more fulfilling. — 00:05:15

  • ★★★ Much of the gap is due to direct discrimination against women, especially mothers. — 00:05:22
  • ★★★ Much of the gap also comes from how the social order constructs gender and its expectations of women. — 00:05:26 · the social order
  • ★★★ John says we can change this together, for instance by embracing the idea that there is no reason for the social order to saddle women with most of the world's unpaid work. — 00:05:31 · the social order
  • ★★ John says we can also examine the real personal and systemic biases that distort how we look at women in the workplace and outside it. — 00:05:39

  • ★★★ The gender pay gap is complicated and tied to many socioeconomic phenomena, but John says, make no mistake, it is real. — 00:05:48

    “make no mistake, it is real.”

In the description and comments

  • ★ In the description John cites a projection that at this rate the wage gap won't close until 2056. — video description · United States
  • ★★ John's description adds that in the US, and in most countries, most unpaid work is done by women. — video description · United States
  • ★ John recommends a really interesting, nuanced interview with an economist who studies the gender pay gap. — video description
  • ★ John points readers to PayScale's gender pay gap data as great overall information, though from a limited data set. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: discrimination · gender pay gap

Also: gender role · motherhood penalty · New Zealand · sexism · South Korea · Stanford University · United States · unpaid work

Only in the description or credits: PayScale

Also centred on gender pay gap: Is the American Dream Real?

Replies to

  • corrects · Is the American Dream Real? — “So a while back I said in a video, in the United States, women make 77 cents for every dollar that men make in the workforce.”

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