UK GENDER PAY GAP

UK Gender Pay Gap

Abstract

Why is there still a gender pay gap in Britain? What are its components? There have been major changes in gender relations and the structuring of the labour market, including anti-discrimination legislation, the closing of the gender education qualifications gap among young people, and increased paid statutory maternity leave. This study utilises the capacity of the British Household Panel Survey both to differentiate between the different types of employment experienced by women over a life-time and to include labour market factors. We show that educational levels, today, differentiate between women and men only a little. We demonstrate that parttime work is better understood as a site of cumulative disadvantage in the acquisition of training and human capital, than as a current location of additional discrimination. We show that not only is full-time employment experience a key source of wage advantage, but that even short interruptions to employment for family care have a substantial additional negative impact on wages. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of using an ontology of gender that has more depth than those previously used in the quantitative analysis of the gender pay gap.

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT1

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION3

Introduction3

The Ontology of Gender4

Education7

Part- Time Employment7

Background9

Research Question17

CHAPTER II: GENDER PAY GAP18

Reduced Form Estimates24

Gender Pay Gap-Facts & Figures31

CHAPTER III: FACTORS AFFECTING THE GENDER PAY GAP34

Labour Market Structures34

Occupational segregation34

Unionisation34

Public sector35

Industrial sector and firm size35

Region36

Discrimination and being Female36

CHAPTER IV: INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS43

Gender Differences in Human Capital Accumulation43

Gender Differences in Labour Market Experience44

Gender Differences in On-the-job Training50

Gender Differences in Occupation and Education52

Gender Differences in Housework and Labour Market Motivation59

Conclusions on the Human Capital Hypothesis61

CHAPTER V: IMPLICATIONS OF THE GENDER PAY GAP62

Job-Shopping Models62

CHAPTER VI: POLICIES TO TACKLE GPG72

CHAPTER VII: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS82

REFERENCES84

Chapter I: Introduction

Introduction

The gender pay gap is an important element of structured economic inequality with widespread social ramifications, not least for gender relations (Crompton 1997). While there has been a reduction in this gap over the last three decades, the UK has the largest gender pay gap in the UK (Rubery 1998). Much quantitative analysis of the components of the gender pay gap has assumed that this is a consequence of a combination, in varying proportions, of women's chosen priorities as mothers and care workers and of discrimination against women (Wright and Ermisch 1991). However, most quantitative analyses of the wage gap tend to use an ontology of gender that lacks depth, and further, the UK data sets used are either out of date, lack key information, or are not representative of all women.

Most quantitative analysis of the gender pay gap is limited by an ontology of gender that is confined to actions of individuals, as if they made freely chosen decisions. Yet, sociologists have long noted the importance of many social institutions in the constitution of gender relations, not just motherhood and discrimination. Further, there are ongoing changes in public policies pertinent to gender relations in employment, including equal opportunities policies in education and the workplace (McRae 1993), so analyses quickly become out of ...