The Gender Pay Gap in 3 Scary Lists
It's often said that on the whole women earn less than men for the same work—about $0.78 for every dollar a man makes. But that's an average. In some cases, according to data provided to Money by the website Glassdoor, the gender pay gap is actually worse. In some jobs the gender pay gap is less than 1%. And in some jobs the gender pay gap is actually reversed, with women earning more than men.
The study controls for many of the reasons cited for the gendered wage imbalance: age, education, years of experience, industry, occupation, location, firm size. Holding all those factors equal, women still take home smaller earnings: 8% less in base pay and 11% less in total compensation than men.
The Glassdoor study even went a step further and controlled for job title and company -- and the wage gap remains. The difference shrinks to a 5.4% in base pay and 7.4% in total compensation, but that's "a notable and significant gap for which there appears to be no explanation," as Glassdoor says in its press statement. You can read the full study here.
In some occupations, the wage gap, even after holding all things equal, is five times greater than that 5.4% average difference, as is the case for computer programmers and chefs. Still in some jobs the gap is less than 2%, and in a handful of jobs women out-earned men, though only by about 8% at the most female-friendly occupation: social worker.
Below are the full lists for the 10 jobs where women face the most wage discrimination and the least, along with the fields where men may find themselves coming up short on earnings.
Jobs Where Women Earn Less
- Computer Programmer
- 28.3% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- Chef
- 28.1% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- Dentist
- 28.1% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- C-Suite(e.g.: Chief Executives, Chief Financial Officers)
- 27.7% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- Psychologist
- 27.2% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.73 for every $1.00 men earn
- Pharmacist
- 21.8% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.78 for every $1.00 men earn
- CAD Designer
- 21.5% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.78 for every $1.00 men earn
- Physician
- 18.2% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.82 for every $1.00 men earn
- Optician
- 17.3% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.83 for every $1.00 men earn
- Pilot
- 16.0% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.84 for every $1.00 men earn
10 Jobs Where Women Earn About the Same
- Event Coordinator
- 0.2% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.00 for every $1.00 men earn
- Logistics Manager
- 0.4% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.00 for every $1.00 men earn
- Food Services Professional
- 0.4% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.00 for every $1.00 men earn
- Internal Medicine Resident
- 0.6% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.99 for every $1.00 men earn
- Technical Coordinator
- 0.7% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.99 for every $1.00 men earn
- Supply Chain Specialist
- 1.0% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.99 for every $1.00 men earn
- Academic Counselor
- 1.0% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.99 for every $1.00 men earn
- Clinical Dietician
- 1.3% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.99 for every $1.00 men earn
- Field ServicesProfessional
- 1.4% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.99 for every $1.00 men earn
- Hardware Engineer
- 1.9% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.98 for every $1.00 men earn
10 Jobs Where Women Earn More
- Social Worker
- +7.8% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.08 for every $1.00 men earn
2. Merchandiser
- +7.6% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.08 for every $1.00 men earn
- Research Assistant
- +6.6% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.07 for every $1.00 men earn
- Purchasing Specialist
- +5.5% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.06 for every $1.00 men earn
- Physician Advisor
- +2.4% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.02 for every $1.00 men earn
- Communications Associate
- +2.2% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.02 for every $1.00 men earn
- Social Media Professional
- +1.9% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.02 for every $1.00 men earn
- Health Educator
- +0.9% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.01 for every $1.00 men earn
- Procurement Professional
- +0.8% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.01 for every $1.00 men earn
- Business Coordinator
- +0.5% base pay difference
- Women earn $1.01 for every $1.00 men earn