Despite these experiences, today they share the belief-rooted in empirical data-that although the situation in academia was often deeply unfair to women in the past, it has dramatically improved over recent decades.Īs the preface continues, the authors point out something that anyone concerned with any kind of bias should have burnt into their brains: Born in 19, respectively, they endured substantial sexism and were victims of cruelty during the earliest decades of their careers. The two female authors of this article share personal histories rife with egregious examples of gender bias in academic science and beyond. Perhaps in an attempt to preempt any PR problems, they break from the usual robotic academic style to connect with readers in a rather personal preface, which begins: The study authors seem to know why their work might be a tough sell in many newsrooms. You’ll find it mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, but only in an editorial. Inside Higher Ed covered it, but that probably doesn’t count as a major outlet. It’s encouraging news, but, as of this writing, I have found no major mainstream print outlet that covered the study as news. In other words, young women who aspire to work in the academic sciences can be reasonably sure they’ll be paid fairly. What accounts for the remaining disparity?Įven this 4% unexplained gender salary gap may be due to factors such as career discontinuities, less-aggressive salary negotiations, gender differences in seeking competing offers, and grant awards-and, importantly, may also be due to women’s lower overall productivity-rather than to overt gender bias.

A gap remained, but it was smaller-just under 4 percent.

Too often gender pay watchers fail to account for potentially confounding factors, factors that are often driven by choices workers make-like which fields to pursue or how many hours to work.Īfter accounting for various potential confounders, the authors' apples-to-apples analysis didn’t find an 18 percent salary gap. The authors note that “it is common to read that women earn only 82 cents for every dollar that men earn.”ĭisparities often look worse when you compare apples to oranges.

The coddling of the american mind book