Hadas Mandel

How Welfare States Shape the Gender Pay Gap: A Theoretical and Comparative Analysis

We assess the impact of the welfare state on cross-national variation in the gender wage gap. Earnings inequality between men and women is conceptualized as resulting from their different locations in the class hierarchy, combined with the severity of wage differentials between and within classes. This decomposition contributes to identifying the relevant dimensions of welfare states and testing their impact on women’s relative earnings. Our empirical analysis is based on income and occupation-based indicators of class and utilizes microdata for 17 post-industrial societies. We find systematic differences between welfare regimes in the components of the gender gap. The evidence supports our claim that the state molds gender inequality in labor market attainments by influencing women’s class positions and regulating class inequality.

Configurations of gender inequality: the consequences of ideology and public policy

This paper gathers a wide range of indicators into distinctive profiles to show how configurations of gender economic inequality are shaped by both welfare state strategies and gender role ideologies. When multiple aspects of gender inequality are assembled together, it becomes evident that all societies exhibit both gender-egalitarian and inegalitarian features. These tradeoffs can best be understood through the ideological and institutional contexts in which they are embedded. Empirical illustrations are provided for fourteen advanced societies by analysing the major expressions of gender inequality; from womens economic wellbeing and financial autonomy, through labour force participation and continuity of employment, to occupational attainments and economic rewards. The analysis confirms the existence of distinctive profiles of gender inequality and their affinity to normative conceptions of the gender order and ideal types of welfare state institutions.

Gender Pay Gap and Employment Sector: Sources of Earnings Disparities in the United States, 1970–2010

Using data from the IPUMS-USA, the present research focuses on trends in the gender earnings gap in the United States between 1970 and 2010. The major goal of this article is to understand the sources of the convergence in men’s and women’s earnings in the public and private sectors as well as the stagnation of this trend in the new millennium. For this purpose, we delineate temporal changes in the role played by major sources of the gap. Several components are identified: the portion of the gap attributed to gender differences in human-capital resources; labor supply; sociodemographic attributes; occupational segregation; and the unexplained portion of the gap. The findings reveal a substantial reduction in the gross gender earnings gap in both sectors of the economy. Most of the decline is attributed to the reduction in the unexplained portion of the gap, implying a significant decline in economic discrimination against women. In contrast to discrimination, the role played by human capital and personal attributes in explaining the gender pay gap is relatively small in both sectors. Differences between the two sectors are not only in the size and pace of the reduction but also in the significance of the two major sources of the gap. Working hours have become the most important factor with respect to gender pay inequality in both sectors, although much more dominantly in the private sector. The declining gender segregation may explain the decreased impact of occupations on the gender pay gap in the private sector. In the public sector, by contrast, gender segregation still accounts for a substantial portion of the gap. The findings are discussed in light of the theoretical literature on sources of gender economic inequality and in light of the recent stagnation of the trend.

Rethinking the paradox: tradeoffs in work-family policy and patterns of gender inequality

On the basis of aggregated data from the most recent ISSP surveys and data from secondary sources, this paper analyzes a wide range of country-level indicators that reflect different dimensions of gender inequality and pertain to the economic position of women in different class situations. The findings reveal that indicators of gender inequality pertaining to women in different class positions are oppositely related to the scope and levels of family policy. Specifically, countries characterized by generous family policies tend to address gender equality among disadvantaged groups, while exhibiting an unequal pattern of gender inequality on indicators related to advantaged groups. By contrast, countries characterized by ungenerous family policies tend to advance equality on parameters related to advantaged groups but perform very poorly on parameters of gender inequality pertaining to disadvantaged groups.

Going Back in Time? Gender Differences in Trends and Sources of the Racial Pay Gap, 1970 to 2010

Using IPUMS data for five decennial years between 1970 and 2010, we delineate and compare the trends and sources of the racial pay gap among men and women in the U.S. labor force. Decomposition of the pay gap into components underscores the significance of the intersection between gender and race; we find meaningful gender differences in the composition of the gap and in the gross and the net earnings gaps—both are much larger among men than among women. Despite these differences, the over-time trend is strikingly similar for both genders. Racial gaps sharply declined between 1970 and 1980 and continued to decline, but at a slower rate, until 2000. However, at the turn of the millennium, the trend reversed for both gender groups. The growth of the racial pay gap at the turn of the millennium is attributable to the increase in overall income inequality, stagnation in occupational segregation, and an increase in the unexplained portion of the gap, a portion we attribute to economic discrimination.

The role of occupational attributes in gender earnings inequality, 1970-2010.

Grounded in the research on the important role of social structures in forming gender inequalities, this study examines the effect of occupational attributes on the gender earnings gap over four decades. Using the IPUMS-USA from 1970 to 2010, the paper shows that occupational attributes cannot be reduced to the aggregate attributes of their individual incumbents. Rather, the effect of occupations on the gender earnings gap goes far beyond both the distributive role of occupational segregation and the effect of individual wage-related characteristics. Furthermore, occupations not only explain a significant portion of net gender pay gaps, but have also contributed to the narrowing of the gaps over the past several decades, as occupational attributes that favor womens pay have become more dominant over time.

The Gender Revolution in Israel: Progress and Stagnation

In most aspects, gender inequality in the labor market has declined over the past century in all Western societies (Esping-Andersen, 2009). Empirical evidence for this trend is most widely documented in the United States, especially between 1970 and 2000, the period when by almost all accounts the gender revolution was most dramatic (Blau and Kahn, 1994, 1997; Cotter et al., 2004; England, 2010). Between 1970 and 2000, the gender gap in labor force participation rates has substantially decreased, and the convergence between mothers and nonmothers was even greater (Cotter, Hermsen, and Vanneman, 2004). During the 1970s alone, the share of young American women with a college education grew by 150 percent (Morris and Western, 1999), a trend that gained momentum during the 1980s and 1990s. By the end of the 1980s, American women were acquiring most of the bachelor and master’s degrees (Cotter, Hermsen, and Vanneman, 2004; Morris and Western, 1999; DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013). These numeric changes were followed by an increase in women’s representation in fields of study that traditionally were dominated by men, such as medicine, business, and management (Cotter et al., 2004; DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013). The growth in educational attainments of women came in parallel to the legislation of antidiscrimination laws and in the wake of the second-wave of feminism during the 1960s. These two processes contributed to mitigating practices of discrimination and helped women translate their education into occupational and economic attainments within the labor market.

A Second Look at the Process of Occupational Feminization and Pay Reduction in Occupations

Using the IPUMS-USA data for the years 1960–2015, this study examines trends in the effect of occupational feminization on occupational pay in the U.S. labor market and explores some of the mechanisms underlying these trends. The findings show that the (negative) association between occupational feminization and occupational pay level has declined, becoming insignificent in 2015. This trend, however, is reversed after education is controlled for at the individual as well as the occupational level. The two opposite trends are discussed in light of the twofold effect of education: (1) the entry of women into occupations requiring high education, and (2) the growing returns to education and to occupations with higher educational requirements. These two processes have concealed the deterioration in occupational pay following feminization. The findings underscore the significance of structural forms of gender inequality in general, and occupational devaluation in particular.

Understanding Gender Economic Inequality Across Welfare Regimes

The process of “farewell to maternalism” (Orloff, 2006) has taken diverse forms in different societies over the last few decades. With the massive entry of women into the labor market, significant cross-country variations have emerged not only in the level of women’s employment but also in their patterns of integration and in the nature of gender stratification in the labor market. To keep pace with this process, the literature on welfare states and gender stratification has branched out to cover a variety of gendered outcomes, besides women’s participation rates. This variability has yielded contradictory conclusions concerning the implications of welfare states for gender stratification.