The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Paid Worker Role and Health 465

differences in work situations were prod-

ucts of women’s choices or environmental

constraints. Interestingly, women were also

less likely than men to have “family capital,”

which includes being married and having

children; family capital was associated with

higher incomes—although you will see later

that this is really only the case for men.

A nationally representative sample of

women and men who received bachelor’s

degrees in 1999 to 2000 was followed for the

first year after graduation to examine salaries

(Dey & Hill, 2007). Among full-time work-

ers, women’s salary was 80% of men’s salary.

However, a major portion of that gap had to

do with the different fields that women and

men entered. Women were more likely than

men to enter lower-paying fields, such as

education and health. However, even within

the same major, men made more money than

women, and the wage gap increased each year

following graduation. During the first year af-

ter graduation, the proportion of men’s salary

made by women was 81% for business ma-

jors, 75% for biology majors, 76% for math

majors, and 95% for engineering majors.

The first year after graduation is an impor-

tant year to examine because both men and

women are less likely to be married and have

families—thus, their roles are quite similar.

Using census data, one study showed

that the wage gap narrowed when women

and men in high status management posi-

tions were compared (Cohen, 2007). In fact,

the extent to which women are represented

in the higher management levels of an orga-

nization has a beneficial effect for all women

in the organization in terms of pay disparity.

The gender pay gap may interact with

the race pay gap. A study of women and

men who graduated from historically Black

compared to historically White institutions

showed that the sex difference in pay was

that women still receive less money than men

when they have similar jobs. A number of

studies have directly compared the salaries

of men and women with the same jobs. A

study of Canadian lawyers found that females

earned less than males and that the pay dis-

parity was accounted for by supply-side fac-

tors (Robson & Wallace, 2001). Women had

less experience practicing law, had shorter

work hours, were less likely to be employed

by a firm, and were employed in less presti-

gious areas of law. It is unclear whether these

TABLE 12.2 WEEKLY EARNINGS IN DOLLARS FOR

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES

Men Women

Accountant/Auditor 1,190 902

Secretary and admin-

istrative assistant

666 619

Art designer 956 730

Baker 448 466

College/University

teacher

1,342 1,030

Computer

programmer

1,267 1,182

Elementary or middle

school teacher

1,040 891

Financial manager 1,443 961

Janitor or building

cleaner

494 401

Lawyer 1,934 1,449

Mail carrier 944 904

Physician/Surgeon 1,914 1,228

Police detective/

Sheriff

971 805

Real estate sales 939 745

Registered nurse 1,090 1,035

Social worker 864 774

Driver/sales worker or

truck driver

690 512

Waiter/Waitress 419 363

Source: U.S. Department of Labor (2010c).

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