What prevents women from obtaining high-paying jobs?

Marianne Bertrand of Chicago Booth investigates the 'glass ceiling' problem.

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The glass ceiling, which prevents women from getting to the top of their professions, has surprisingly held up well. According to the NGO Catalyst, women make up 45% of the entire workforce at the largest U.S. public firms, yet they only hold 20% of board positions and 5% of CEO positions. According to a fact sheet from the European Union published in 2016, the data are also skewed throughout Europe.

Data show that the advancements women were making a few decades ago have stagnated. From 1970 to 1990, the proportion of working women with a college degree rose quickly. However, since then, both the growth in women's employment and their pay growth relative to top-earning men have decreased.

Education decisions affect income

Since the 1960s, women have advanced significantly in some areas. According to Bertrand's analysis of the relevant literature, women's participation in the labor force in the United States increased from roughly 50% in 1970 to over 70% in 1990. The percentage of women who work full-time increased from 26% to 45%, and the percentage of women who attend college increased as well. Men graduated from college at a higher rate than women up until the 1960s. Since then, the percentage of men who graduate from college has plateaued at roughly 30%, while the percentage of millennial women who do so has increased to around 40%.

However, evidence suggests that some of the gender pay difference may be related to what women study in college. Several female students choose to major in literature or art.

Consider a set of 1950 birthyears. The mean wages of the women in this category were approximately 14% lower than those of the men who studied these topics. According to Bertrand's findings, they also pursued degrees and fields of study where women were roughly a quarter less likely to make the top 10% of earnings. Although things have changed a little, according to Bertrand, women still choose degrees that led to 6 percent lower mean wages among those born in 1985.

Numerous organizations are urging more girls to pursue careers with higher average salaries since they are aware of this problem. For instance, the National Girls Collaborative Project unites academic, government, and non-profit organizations to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Influence of messaging

Erin Hogeboom of the National Girls Collaborative Project offers messages from the media, educators, peers, and even themselves as reasons why girls might avoid these fields of study. "One of the things we talk about a lot is women's perceptions, which really stem from their experiences as girls and feeling confident and encouraged to pursue their interest in a STEM field," said she.

She cited some instances to illustrate how messages build up in layers. TV shows promote boys' aptitude for mathematics. Without realizing it, some teachers call on boys more frequently than on girls in scientific classes. A girl who enjoys STEM subjects may be the only female student or one of a small number of female students in her high school or college class. And

When compensated equally, men and women performed similarly, according to the researchers. However, when the remuneration was made competitive, men did better than women. According to the researchers, "the average performance of men increases, while that of women is unaffected." They continued by saying that women "do not 'give up' when competing against men." Women's performance, however, also improved when they faced off against other women. In a subsequent, related study by Niederle and Lise Vesterlund of the University of Pittsburgh, it was discovered that when offered a choice between two reward options for doing math problems in a lab, women chose the less-competitive option. Even for women who excelled in math compared to males, this was true.

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