Just the Facts
You have no doubt heard at least a dozen times that there is a “gender pay gap” in the US – i.e., that women make only about 80% (79% to 83%) of what men make, and that is evidence of bias and discrimination.
Well, it’s not true. When researchers account for career field, hours, and seniority – effectively comparing like with like – the apparent gap shrinks dramatically. Some studies say it
narrows to less than 10 cents. Some say 6 cents. Some say a penny. And for very good reasons.
For one thing, most of the so-called gap comes from choices and work patterns. Men are overrepresented in industrial jobs, heavy labor, and dangerous jobs. Women are overrepresented in teaching, nursing, and other jobs where workers generally receive lower wages.
Other factors include hours worked and seniority. Women are more likely to work part-time or take career breaks for caregiving. In fact, when studies compare full-time workers with similar hours, some data show the earnings ratio reverses!
Jobs and Professions Where Women Earn More Than Men
A few examples:
* Modeling. Among top-earning fashion models, female models have historically earned more than male models.
* Creative Roles. Some occupational data show that in specific creative roles like producers and directors, women’s median earnings exceed men’s. One analysis reported women earning about 128% of what men make in these roles.
* Career Counselors. In the same occupational dataset, women’s pay in this field slightly exceeded men’s, reported as roughly 106%.
* Some Clerical/Administrative Roles. According to some wage surveys and Bureau of Labor Statistics breakdowns, categories like billing and posting clerks, reservation agents, and receptionists sometimes show women earning more per hour than men – though these tend to be lower-paying roles overall.
For a quick overview of the data, watch this video from Prager U. Economist Christina Hoff Summers explains the phony calculations and why they never made any sense.
And if you are up for it, here are some studies on the gender pay gap that you might want to check out:
* Blau, Francine D. & Lawrence M. Kahn, The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER Working Paper No. 21913, updated versions through the 2010s), a foundational labor-economics review – Finds that most of the observed wage gap is explained by occupation, experience, hours worked, and labor-force attachment.
* Goldin, Claudia, A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter, American Economic Review, Vol. 104, No. 4 (2014) – Shows that remaining wage gaps are concentrated in occupations that reward long hours, inflexible schedules, and geographic mobility, rather than unequal pay for equal work.
* US Department of Labor, An Analysis of the Gender Wage Gap (2014) – Finds that the majority of the raw wage gap is attributable to differences in occupation, industry, hours worked, and work experience.
* Payscale, Gender Pay Gap Report (annual editions, esp. 2016–2023) – Reports a large “uncontrolled” gap but shows that after controlling for job title, location, education, experience, and hours, women earn roughly 98 to 100 cents per dollar of men
* CONSAD Research Corporation, An Analysis of Reasons for the Disparity in Wages Between Men and Women (commissioned by the US Dept. of Labor, 2009) – Concludes that available data do not support claims of systemic pay discrimination for equal work; observed gaps reflect measurable differences in work patterns and career choices.
