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The Glass Ceiling in Europe: Why Are Women Doing Badly in the Labour Market?

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  • Alison L. Booth

Abstract

Average gender pay gaps have absorbed the interest of economists for many years. More recently studies have begun to explore the degree to which observed gender wage gaps might differ across the wages distribution. The stylised facts from these studies, summarised in the first part of the paper, are that the gender pay gap in Europe is typically increasing across the wages distribution. This finding - more pronounced in the private than the public sector - has been interpreted as a glass ceiling effect. The existence of this glass ceiling suggests that the average gender pay gap in Europe is mainly due to the gender gap towards the top of the wages distribution. What explains these stylised facts? We briefly outline some relevant hypotheses in the second part of the paper. A fundamental challenge for labour economists is to identify the extent to which these stylised facts are due to policies and institutions, discrimination, to other unobservable factors, or to fundamental differences between men and women. Finally, we briefly summarise the policy initiatives that might be introduced to deal with gender wage gaps.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison L. Booth, 2006. "The Glass Ceiling in Europe: Why Are Women Doing Badly in the Labour Market?," CEPR Discussion Papers 542, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:542
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    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/CEPR/DP542.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Grimshaw, Damian. & Rubery, Jill., 2015. "The motherhood pay gap : a review of the issues, theory and international evidence," ILO Working Papers 994873763402676, International Labour Organization.
    2. repec:ilo:ilowps:487376 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Gerdes, Christer & Gränsmark, Patrik, 2010. "Strategic behavior across gender: A comparison of female and male expert chess players," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 766-775, October.
    4. Walter Korpi & Stefan Englund & Tommy Ferrarini, 2010. "Women's Opportunities Under Different Constellations of Family Policies in Western Countries: Inequality Tradeoffs Re-Examined," LIS Working papers 556, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Gränsmark, Patrik, 2010. "Social Screening and Cooperation Among Expert Chess Players," Working Paper Series 4/2010, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    6. Empar Pons Blasco & Luisa Escriche Bertolín, 2009. "Who moves up the career ladder? A model of gender differences in job promotion," Working Papers. Serie AD 2009-23, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    7. Korpi, Walter & Ferrarini, Tommy & Englund, Stefan, 2011. "Women's Opportunities under Different Constellations of Family Policies in Western Countries: Inequality Tradeoffs Re-examined," Working Paper Series 2/2011, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    8. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Jansson, Birgitta, 2007. "Top Incomes in Sweden during Three-Quarters of a Century: A Micro Data Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 2672, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; discrimination; glass ceilings; sticky floors; quantile regression decompositions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General

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