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DIRECT GENDER AND RACE DISCRIMINATION AND BIAS
<br />Not all of the gender and race pay gaps can be
<br />explained by observable differences in college major,
<br />occupation, work hours, and time out of the workforce.
<br />Direct discrimination and bias against women in the
<br />workplace are also culprits in the pay gap.
<br />Each year, the EEOC receives thousands of sex,
<br />race, and other pay discrimination complaints, and
<br />many of these are decided or resolved in favor of the
<br />person who filed the charge (U.S. Equal Employment
<br />Opportunity Commission, 2018b).
<br />In part due to persistent sex discrimination, women are
<br />also less likely than men to reach the highest -paying
<br />leadership and executive positions. In 2015, women
<br />held only 26 percent of private -sector executive
<br />positions, and women of color are particularly unlikely
<br />to hold such positions (AAUW, 2016). In addition,
<br />women make up just 22 percent of chief executives
<br />of nonprofit organizations with annual budgets of $50
<br />million or more—despite making up about 75 percent of
<br />the nonprofit workforce—and female chief executives
<br />of nonprofits experience a pay gap relative to men who
<br />lead organizations of similar size (AAUW, 2018b).
<br />How do we know that discrimination and bias
<br />directly affect women's pay? Researchers look for the
<br />"unexplained" pay gap after statistically accounting
<br />for other factors. For instance, after accounting for
<br />college major, occupation, economic sector, hours
<br />worked, months unemployed since graduation, GPA,
<br />type of undergraduate institution, institution selectivity,
<br />age, geographical region, and marital status, AAUW
<br />found a remaining 7 percent difference between the
<br />earnings of male and female college graduates one
<br />year after graduation. That gap jumped to 12 percent
<br />10 years after college graduation (AAUW, 2012; AAUW
<br />Educational Foundation, 2007). Other researchers
<br />have reached similar conclusions about gender
<br />discrimination and the pay gap when controlling
<br />for certain factors. For instance, a study of medical
<br />researchers found an unexplained gap of 6 percent
<br />between comparable men and women in the field, and
<br />a recent study of the American workforce as a whole
<br />found an unexplained gap of 8 percent (Jagsi et al.,
<br />2012; Blau & Kahn, 2017).
<br />As noted above, women of different racial and ethnic
<br />groups in the United States have widely varying gaps
<br />in their earnings when compared to white men. These
<br />statistics reflect cumulative disadvantages resulting
<br />from different circumstances and opportunities,
<br />including direct and structural racial bias, the effect of
<br />gender bias, and the intersectional effect of belonging
<br />to groups that experience unique stereotypes and bias
<br />(e.g. black women). For instance, while alt women are
<br />underrepresented in executive positions relative to
<br />their labor force participation, black women are the
<br />most underrepresented of any group (AAUW, 2016).
<br />The intersectional impact of race and gender biases
<br />contributes to the overall gender pay gap, as women
<br />of color experience pay outcomes that are worse
<br />than would be predicted by the additive effect of
<br />race and gender separately (Blau and Kahn, 2017).
<br />In other words, when closely examining the impact
<br />of race and gender (as well as other factors) on
<br />the pay of black men, black women, white men,
<br />and white women, it is clear that black women
<br />experience a large gap that cannot be attributed to
<br />other observable characteristics, such as occupation
<br />and education, or by race or gender separately (Paul
<br />et al., 2018). Black women's education and other
<br />labor force characteristics are now such that they
<br />would be expected to be paid more than black men
<br />if gender bias were not a factor. Yet they are still paid
<br />less (Paul et al., 2018). Women of different racial and
<br />ethnic backgrounds all have different experiences
<br />of discrimination, but biases based on race, gender,
<br />and the intersection of race and gender all contribute
<br />measurably to the overall gap.
<br />AAUW • www.aauw.org THE SIMPLE TRUTH ABOUT THE GENDER PAY GAP 1 Fall 2018 Edition
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