A Grand Gender Convergence-Article Summary: Changes Needed to Close the Gender Pay Gap

Converging Roles

The converging roles of men and women are among the grandest advances in society and the economy in the last century.These aspects of the grand gender convergence are figurative chapters in a history of gender roles. But what must the “last” chapter contain for there to be equality in the labor market? The answer may come as a surprise. The solution does not (necessarily) have to involve government intervention and it need not make men more responsible in the home (although that wouldn’t hurt). But it must involve changes in the labor market, especially how jobs are structured and remunerated to enhance temporal flexibility. The gender gap in pay would be considerably reduced and might vanish altogether if firms did not have an incentive to disproportionately reward individuals who labored long hours and worked particular hours. Such change has taken off in various sectors, such as technology, science, and health, but is less apparent in the corporate, financial, and legal worlds.

Many advances in society and the economy in the last century, the converging roles of men and women are among the grandest. A narrowing has occurred between men and women in labor force participation, paid hours of work, hours of work at home, life-time labor force experience, occupations, college majors, and education, where there has been an overtaking by females.1 And there has also been convergence in earnings, on which this essay will focus. Although my evidence is for the United States, the themes developed here are more broadly applicable.

These parts of the grand gender convergence occupy various metaphorical chapters in the history of gender roles in the economy and society. But what must be in the “last” chapter for there to be real equality? The answer may come as a surprise. The solution does not (necessarily) have to involve government intervention. It does not have to improve women’s bargaining skills and desire to compete. And it does not necessarily have to make men more responsible in the home (although that wouldn’t hurt). But it must involve alterations in the labor market, in particular changing how jobs are structured and remunerated to enhance temporal flexibility.

The gender gap in pay would be considerably reduced and might even vanish if firms did not have an incentive to disproportionately reward individuals who worked long hours and who worked particular hours. Such change has already occurred in various sectors, but not in enough. Before I discuss what is needed to close the gender gap and what must be in the last chapter, I should first discuss what is contained in the preceding figurative chapters. That will set the stage for the detective work necessary to uncover what the last chapter must contain. The preceding metaphorical chapters unfolded across at least the last century. Narrowing occurred in a host of economic areas. Changes in labor force participation and the reasons for the changes were discussed in my Ely Lecture (Goldin 2006). A grand convergence occurred in labor force participation for adult women from the early twentieth century to more recently.

Gender Gaps in Earnings over the Life-Cycle and by Occupation

But a plateau in participation has emerged for US women in most age groups, even for college graduate women, since around the 1990s. The plateau may be related to the relative earnings issues that I will soon discuss. If certain women are disadvantaged in the labor market their participation will be stymied.2 Lifetime job experience rose along with labor force participation. Years of education for women increased more than it did for men and it changed in content for secondary and college education toward more investment-oriented and fewer consumption-oriented courses and concentrations. Professional and graduate program enrollment increased for women so that about half of all law and medical enrollments today are women, and women lead men in fields such as the biological sciences, pharmacy, optometry, and veterinary medicine.

Women, particularly college graduates, increased their desire to attain “career and family.”3 Hours of work for women increased in the market and decreased in the home relative to those of men. Female earnings rose relative to males in an era that saw women “swimming against the tide” of generally rising income inequality.4 Thus the various metaphorical chapters that precede the “last” chapter explored here are those of a grand gender convergence. 

over the Life-Cycle and by Occupation Even though there are many ways to measure the degree of gender equality in the economy, the one that stands out is earnings, particularly earnings per unit time or the wage. Because relative earnings often signify how individuals are valued socially and economically, earnings ratios between men and women have been banners for social movements. The mantra of the women’s movement in the 1970s was “59 cents on the dollar” and a more recent crusade for pay equality has adopted “77 cents on the dollar.” The wage is also a summary statistic for an individual’s education, training, prior labor force experience, and expected future participation.

The gender gap in wages is a summary statistic for gender differences in work. For a long time the gender gap in wages has been viewed as summarizing human capital differences between men’s and women’s productivity as well as differential treatment of men and women in the labor market. As the grand gender convergence has proceeded, underlying differences between the human capital capabilities of women and men have been vastly reduced and in many cases eliminated.6 What do we know about how much of the difference between male and female wages is due to differential treatment in the labor market and how much to differences in productive characteristics? That question has been addressed by many and I will briefly summarize the findings and provide further comment.

Q: Write a critique after finished the reading,content should includes integrative summary comments and critical responses or questions that shows you had gave serious thought to the article. length should between 500-600 words