RT Article
T1 The Cost of Being Female: Critical Comment on Block
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 106
IS 4
SP 519
OP 524
A1 Sayers, Rachel C.
LA English
YR 2012
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785644548
AB Women currently earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. Explanations abound for why, exactly, this wage gap exists. One of the more potent justifications attributes this pay differential to the unequal effects of marriage on the sexes: the marital asymmetry hypothesis. However, even when marital status is accounted for, a small but significant residual gap remains. This article argues that this is the result of social factors. Entrenched societal sexism causes all of us to harbor unconscious bias about the capabilities and proper gender roles of women. This bias, in turn, leads us to discount work completed by females, especially in professional environments. Employers are not immune from this effect, and the undervaluation of female ability affects hiring practices, leading to the residual wage gap.
K1 Marital asymmetry
K1 Sexism
K1 Wage differentials
K1 pay gap
K1 Discrimination
K1 Feminism
DO 10.1007/s10551-011-1017-4