Higher exposure, lower vulnerability? The curious case of education, gender discrimination, and Women's health

Workplace gender discrimination persists in American society and women's experiences of discrimination are linked to diminished mental and physical well-being. While higher socioeconomic status (SES) decreases exposure to a number of work-related stressors, research suggests higher SES may also be associated with increased rates of perceived gender discrimination at work. We conceptualize educational attainment as a “metamechanism” that shapes women's work lives, family lives, as well as their ideologies. We argue that these factors in turn structure women's exposure and vulnerability to gender discrimination. We assess the influence of educational attainment on women's perceptions of workplace discrimination, as well as its health consequences, by analyzing national data from the 2002–2014 General Social Surveys. Our analyses show that women with high levels of education are more likely than women with lower levels of education to work full-time and in well-compensated, male-dominated occupations, and it is in these contexts where women are most likely to perceive gender discrimination. While educational attainment is associated with increased reports of workplace gender discrimination, it also sometimes provides women with resources that buffer its negative health consequences. For women with lower levels of education, perceived gender discrimination is associated with worse mental health, lower quality sleep, less happiness, and lower job satisfaction, but these particular health tolls diminish or disappear at higher levels of education. Our results shed light on the multi-level processes through which gender and education work together to structure health outcomes.