Is the gender pay gap a myth? | Richard Reeves

Author Richard Reeves debunks multiple gender pay gap myths, on both sides of the debate.

The gender pay gap has narrowed significantly over the last few decades, with 40% of women now earning more than the median man. But the gap still exists. Why?

The main driver is no longer discrimination but rather the different patterns of work between men and women, says Richard Reeves, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Women's earnings decline significantly after having children, as they take more time out of the labor market or work part-time during critical career development years.

To further address the gender pay gap, Reeves argues that society should reduce the impact of time away from the labor market, redesign career ladders for more flexibility, and encourage shared parenting responsibilities. Policies such as paid leave for both parents and support for fathers' involvement in childcare are crucial to achieving true gender equality, says Reeve.

0:00 What is the gender pay gap?
1:13 Is it caused by discrimination?
2:01 Is it a myth?
3:07 “The economic equivalent of being hit by a meteorite”
4:20 How to fix the parent gap
6:14 The deep problems of equality

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Richard Reeves:
Richard V. Reeves is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he directs the Future of the Middle Class Initiative and co-directs the Center on Children and Families. His Brookings research focuses on the middle class, inequality and social mobility.

Richard writes for a wide range of publications, including the New York Times, Guardian, National Affairs, The Atlantic, Democracy Journal, and Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Dream Hoarders (Brookings Institution Press, 2017), and John Stuart Mill – Victorian Firebrand (Atlantic Books, 2007), an intellectual biography of the British liberal philosopher and politician.

Dream Hoarders was named a Book of the Year by The Economist, a Political Book of the Year by The Observer, and was shortlisted for the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice. In September 2017, Politico magazine named Richard one of the top 50 thinkers in the U.S. for his work on class and inequality.

A Brit-American, Richard was director of strategy to the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2012. Other previous roles include director of Demos, the London-based political think-tank; social affairs editor of the Observer; principal policy advisor to the Minister for Welfare Reform, and research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Richard is also a former European Business Speaker of the Year and has a BA from Oxford University and a PhD from Warwick University.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read more of our stories:
How does your personality type affect your income?
‘Gender Pay Scorecard’ grades 50 major U.S. companies
Talking about money is taboo. You should break it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Big Think | Smarter Faster™
► Big Think
Our mission is to make you smarter, faster. Watch interviews with the world’s biggest thinkers on science, philosophy, business, and more.
► Big Think+

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Want more Big Think?

[bigthink]

What do you think of this explanation of the gender pay gap?

[xxsrexx]

Didn’t Jordan Peterson get labelled a right wing hater because he said this same thing 5 years ago?

[josephmcfadden]

It’s great to see someone discussing these topics of gender inequality without taking the stance of ‘one side against the other’ because cooperation and respect is the only way to reach equality

[Wolf]

Single dad here, been raising my daughter solo for 14 years now. I gave up a 6 figure career so I could move across the country and raise my daughter around family. Been a lot of part time work and sometimes 2 jobs to make ends meet just so I could be home every night and raise her right but it has been worth it. Money ain’t everything.

[littlebilly]

We shouldn’t have a society that disincentivizes raising your own children

[tayzonday]

The lack of public investment in childcare is also a factor. Full-time Infant/toddler DayCare is easily $40, 000 per year if a parent wants to continue working.

[cp]

As a converse to this video, I (a male) took over child care while my wife continued to work. I took the pay hit willingly. I had several wonderful years with my little one. But when (heartbreakingly) we divorced, I was the one who got hit with child support. Although, on average, women get the short end of the economic stick when raising little ones……. Ok, I’m not sure what my point is, but I’m just sad and annoyed and miss my little one.

[evankolpack]

Wow, I genuinely didn't expect a rational, reasonable explanation based on a fair appraisal of actual data. What a refreshing surprise. Thank you!

[helens]

Sounds to me the solution lies in equally sharing parenting between both parents.

“Enable fathers”, I love it.
More parental leave for men.

[teledog]

I don't agree with the premise that men and women should parent an equal amount of time so as to reduce some portion of pay gap statistics. You're going to need to go a step further and show how this benefits the total household income and the child to convince me. Econ 101 - specialization benefits the whole more than everyone being a generalist. Equity isn't necessarily the answer to every statistic.

[apexheat]

A simple way to see it is, if companies could get away with paying women less for the exact same job, the exact same hours, the exact work rate and the exact output, then wouldn't the entire workforce be comprised of mostly women ? Exactly. And as this guy explained very well, " it doesn't mean there isn't a problem, it just means that it's a different kind of problem " . which I agree with

[vladimir.zlokazov]

I like that the question of redefining career ladders was raised here. Given the aging and declining populations of the developed countries I think the question of life's purpose (however pretentious that might sound) has to become not just a question that people ask themselves but also a matter of broader societal interest. If the societal norm for the purpose of life is to have a career (or let's face it - a 9-5 job for most of the people) and it conflicts with actually procreating that society into the future than there is no future for that society. Integrating all sorts of things that constitute life into actual lives - is the challenge for the future.

[ronn]

Hmm I took two years off to earn a masters degree and recently inquired about returning to my previous position-available. I was told I would now be considered “inexperienced” and my pay would be considerably lower. I’m a man - it works both ways. Taking time off hurts your career. Period.

[Nad-A]

i took 18 month off to look after my daughter, missed out on a critical promotion. Not only that, the momentum I had achieved in my role, the network, relationships I had cultivated were all gone when i came back.
Coming back into the same role I had left almost 2 years prior.
That also hurts with the accumulative effect of experience and reputation.

edit:
Thanks for all the feedback.
I should point out 2 things:
I do not regret taking the time off, nor do i expect anything to be done about it, or complaining about.
My daughter is/was older - she was going through a poor mental health episode.
Again, I ask for nothing. Simply was what I chose/had to do.

My point more was about the fact, that if you take yourself out of the workforce - there are consequences, irrespective of who/what you are.
Unfortunately this impacts women more, perhaps we should have the men share the workload of looking after the children?

[WaterBottle]

Instead of looking at who is making more money, why not look at who is actually spending the money?.... "Women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing "Women control or influence 85% of consumer spending".... In other words, men mostly make money in order to give it to women who will then spend it.

[shawnpavlik]

When you take out factors like job selection and "danger in the work force", you see that the gender pay gap is about 3-5 cents on the dollar, and it is closing quickly. There is a reason men are paid more on a median level: we do more dangerous jobs on average. If you look at "what is this midlevel manager paid vs. this midlevel manager", i.e. people doing the exact same job with the same education and same experience, working the same number of hours, there really IS no gender pay gap.

[EnderOfficial]

One could argue that the time spent raising a child is more fulfilling than meaningful career developments.

[disappearintothesea]

I'll like to see how this plays out with the declining birth rate in the next couple of years.

[mchammer]

Another assumption to question is that moms taking time off to raise children to the detriment of career advancement/higher pay is ONLY bad. This line of reasoning IMO deeply undervalues parenting and child raising as an existential good in a persons life, with positive and affirming effects on both parent and child. We all know people who are wealthy and miserable (we also know miserable parents lol) so there’s room for discussion about quality of life, getting what you want out of life, happiness, etc. not simply tracking tightly with pay.

[amateurwizard]

This is the conversation that is supposed to follow after mentioning that...
- 1: The pay gap is when you sum all male income, and compare it to all female income. Which is the opposite of what you do with a scientific analysis. You're supposed to have one variable not one control.
- 2: The next thing that should be mentioned is that when you control all variables apart from pay when you end up with (not a 3% discrepancy like he mentioned) a >1% discrepancy.

Then and only then can you even start asking the right questions as to why is this the case. Oxford, Stanford and other ivy leagues have done independent studies on this, please take a look at them yourselves.