Understanding the Gender Wage Gap

This chapter provides a nuanced understanding of the gender wage gap in the United States, debunking misconceptions and exploring underlying factors such as race, unpaid labor, and societal biases.

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Episode notes

Why does the wage gap persist, despite both legislation and a cultural shift that encourages women to participate in the workforce with the fervor of a thousand exploding suns? The gap has barely budged over the last decade or two, stagnating somewhere in the low 80% range.

I had to crawl into some objectionable online spaces that are expressly “anti-women” to find out (so you don’t have to!)…and the consensus I found there was dizzying.

I'm also joined by Ellevest's CEO Sallie Krawcheck—and, I have to say, this conversation is a must-listen.

Transcripts can be found at podcast.moneywithkatie.com

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Mentioned in the Episode

Economic historian Claudia Goldin's work: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/women-at-work/id1336174427?i=1000403279400
US Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the wage gap: https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/median-earnings-for-women-in-2021-were-83-1-percent-of-the-median-for-men.htm
BLS "time use studies": https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus.pdf
Harvard study on the dynamics of the gender wage gap: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/goldin/files/dynamics_of_the_gender_gap_for_young_professionals_in_the_financial_and_corporate_sectors.pdf
US News ranking and methodology for countries and gender equality: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/methodology
Parental leave data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development: https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/PF2_1_Parental_leave_systems.pdf
BLS employment characteristics from 2022: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf
Pew Research on stay-at-home parents in the 1970s: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/04/08/after-decades-of-decline-a-rise-in-stay-at-home-mothers/
Cosmopolitan essay from Laura Kipnis on why maternal instincts are BS: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a37568/why-maternal-instincts-are-bs/