Study Reveals Lower Pay Recommendations for Women-Dominated Jobs in the U.S.
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has uncovered a significant bias in pay recommendations for jobs perceived as being dominated by women. The study involved an experiment where participants were asked to recommend salaries for a management consulting job, a profession typically seen as gender-neutral. The job was presented with varying gender compositions: 25%, 45%, and 67% women. Results showed that participants consistently recommended lower salaries for the job when it was described as having a higher proportion of female workers. On average, the salary suggested for the female-dominated version was nearly $1,000 less per year. This finding supports a theory proposed by sociologist Paula England in the 1990s, which suggests that occupations associated with women become undervalued and, consequently, lower paid. 
