The gender pay gap in research: a comparison of 23 European countries

The gender wage gap is in a sense the final and most synthetic indicator of all inequalities between male and female researchers that structure the labour market. Even though research generally concerns the most highly educated fragment of the workforce, of all countries observed in She Figures (EC 2009), there is none where female wages are equal to men’s, despite the almost universal existence of legislation to impose gender wage equality. This paper will use European Structure of Earnings data for 2006 for 23 European countries (BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, EL, HU, IT, LT, LU, LV, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, NO, SK, UK) to compute the gender pay gap within three occupational groups in private and public enterprise and for different age groups (14-19 years, 20-29 years, 30-39 years, 40-49 year, 50-59 years and 60+ years) and working hours (part-time versus full-time). The first group selected relates to decision-making occupations (ISCO 100 – Legislators, senior officials and managers). The second group refers to “Professional” occupations (ISCO 200) and the third to “Technical and Associate Professional” occupations (ISCO 300). To sum up, this analysis will test whether the gender pay gap is wider in those occupations that are most open to high-level female researchers, whether it is smaller in public enterprise and in full-time research jobs, and whether it widens as researchers’ age increases in which case it illustrates either the workings of a glass ceiling that women hit during their ascent in the occupational hierarchy or a generation effect.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)