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Do women’s choices explain the pay gap?Few dispute the existence of the pay gap, butsome argue that it is simply the result of men andwomen making different choices. Many studieshave explored this question, including AAUW’sreport Behind the Pay Gap (AAUW EducationalFoundation, 2007). Behind the Pay Gap foundthat part of the pay gap is indeed explained bydifferences in the jobs men and women hold, thehours they work, and their education and training,factors that are influenced—although notsolely determined—by individual choices. Thereport also found that a portion of the genderpay gap is not explained by any of the factorsknown to affect earnings. Likewise, other studiesof the pay differences between men and womenhave been unable to fully explain the pay gap(Lo Sasso et al., 2011; Broyles, 2009; Black et al.,2008; Blau & Kahn, 2007, 2006; Bobbitt-Zeher,2007).For example, a recent analysis found that specialtyaccounted for much of the overall genderdifference in the salaries of physician researchers.Women were far less likely to work in higherpayingspecialties than men were. But womenstill earned an unexplained $13,399 less thantheir male colleagues did each year, even afterthe authors considered and controlled for factorsthat had a significant effect on salary, includingspecialty, age, parental status, additional graduatedegrees, academic rank, institution type,grant funding, publications, work hours, andtime spent in research (Jagsi et al., 2012). Similarly,a recent analysis of pay differences betweenmale and female full-time managers found thatfemale managers were younger and had lesseducation than male managers did. But evenafter researchers controlled for age, education,hours worked beyond full time, industry sector,marital status, and presence of children in thehousehold, female managers still earned just81 percent of what male managers did, leavingan unexplained 19 percent pay gap (U.S. GovernmentAccountability Office, 2010).In discussions of the pay gap on television, innewspapers and magazines, and online, there isoften an underlying assumption that the onlytroubling part of the pay gap is the part that isunexplained. Yet explaining or accounting fora portion of the pay gap simply means that weunderstand how various factors affect earnings,not that the resulting salary disparities are fair ordesirable. For example, women are more likelyto become teachers, a relatively low-paying jobfor a college graduate, while men are more likelyto enter higher-paying fields such as engineering.Although different job types “explain” part ofthe pay gap, cultural and other external factorsinfluence the occupations in which menand women work. The AAUW report Why SoFew? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering,and Mathematics (2010) chronicles some of thecultural norms and pressures that drive choicesabout college major and the type of job pursuedafter graduation. Both the explained and theunexplained portions contribute to the pay gap,and each points to its own set of solutions fornarrowing that gap.Discrimination persists in the workplace.Gender discrimination, overt and subtle, persistsin American workplaces. It occurs when employersand co-workers treat women in a particularway because they are women rather than onthe basis of individual merit. In 2011 alone, thefederal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC) received more than 28,000complaints of sex discrimination, an increaseof about 18 percent compared with a decadeearlier. Although the EEOC will not find all of6 Graduating to a Pay Gap
these cases to have merit, each year millions ofdollars are awarded to individuals who file sexdiscrimination claims. Monetary awards forcases resolved through the EEOC in 2011—notincluding monetary benefits obtained throughlitigation—totaled just over $145 million (EqualEmployment Opportunity Commission, 2012).Additional money is awarded each year incases that are resolved through the courts. Inone notable case in 2010, a federal jury foundNovartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation liablefor gender discrimination in pay, promotion,and pregnancy-related matters. Twelve formerNovartis sales representatives were awarded$3.36 million in compensatory damages, and5,600 female Novartis sales representatives wereawarded an additional $250 million in punitivedamages (Velez v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals). It islikely that many more women who face similarcircumstances do not bring charges against theiremployers. The millions of dollars awarded eachyear as a result of gender discrimination claimsdemonstrate that gender discrimination in theworkplace continues to be a significant problem.Gender discrimination probably accounts forat least part of the unexplained portion of thepay gap. A strong body of experimental researchshows that most men and women continueto hold biases—often unconscious—againstwomen in the workplace, especially against thosewho work in traditionally male fields (AAUW,2010; Jost et al., 2009; Heilman et al., 2004;Eagly & Karau, 2002). In a recent experiment,science faculty members from research-intensiveuniversities selected a higher starting salary formale applicants than they did for identicallyqualified female applicants for a laboratory managerposition. Female and male faculty memberswere equally likely to exhibit bias against femaleapplicants (Moss-Racusin et al., 2012). Since discriminationis difficult to measure directly—andother factors may be at play—we do not knowhow much of the unexplained pay gap is due todiscrimination. But because gender discriminationis so common, it is probably responsible forat least part of it.Gender discrimination may also play a role in theexplained portion of the pay gap. For example,an employer who assumes that women preferpositions traditionally held by women may notconsider them for higher-paying, traditionallymale jobs. An individual’s occupation falls intothe explained portion of the pay gap, but ifemployers hire women only for “women’s jobs”and men only for “men’s jobs,” this portionof the pay gap is explained, in part, by genderdiscrimination. To the extent that women earnless than men earn because of discrimination, wehave a societal ill in need of a remedy.Why focus on recent college graduates?This report examines the pay gap betweenmen and women working full time in 2009, justone year after college graduation in 2007–08.We limited our analysis to full-time workers tomake a valid comparison of earnings. Becauseof the poor labor market in 2009, both men andwomen were less likely to be working in a fulltimejob one year after graduation (60 percent ofmale graduates and 53 percent of female graduates)compared with 2001 (74 percent of malegraduates and 67 percent of female graduates),the last time these data were gathered (AAUWEducational Foundation, 2007). Still, the majorityof 2007–08 college graduates were workingfull time one year after graduation. This analysisdoes not include recent graduates who wereunemployed or working part time in 2009. Likewise,it does not address how graduate or profes-AAUW7
Page 1: Graduating to a Pay GapThe Earnings
Page 4 and 5: Published by AAUW1111 Sixteenth St.
Page 7: ContentsForewordAcknowledgmentsAbou
Page 11: AcknowledgmentsAAUW thanks Robin He
Page 14 and 15: lower-paying jobs. But college majo
Page 16 and 17: Although women cannot avoid the pay
Page 20 and 21: sional degrees affect earnings or d
Page 22 and 23: Gender differences in education acc
Page 24 and 25: FIGURE 3. Gender Composition of Col
Page 26 and 27: FIGURE 5. Average Annual Earnings O
Page 28 and 29: FIGURE 7. Occupation One Year after
Page 30 and 31: of college. In some fields, the ear
Page 32 and 33: earned more than women earned. Empl
Page 35 and 36: Chapter 3High Student Loan Debt Bur
Page 37 and 38: Estimating Manageable Student Loan
Page 39 and 40: Chapter 4Narrowing the Pay GapRemed
Page 41 and 42: Ensure that borrowers are well info
Page 43 and 44: Choose your college major carefully
Page 45 and 46: Pass legislation that allows privat
Page 47 and 48: AppendixMethodology and Regression
Page 49 and 50: FIGURE 13. Significant Coefficients
Page 51: which included only recent graduate
Page 54 and 55: Bowles, H. R., Babcock, L., & Lai,
Page 56 and 57: ------. (2000). Do colleges shortch
Page 58 and 59: Women in Science,Technology,Enginee
Page 60 and 61: Join AAUWPersonal InformationName _
Page 62 and 63: AAUW Board of DirectorsCarolyn H. G
Page 64: 1111 Sixteenth St. NWWashington, DC

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