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Chantel Adams, senior marketing executive, sits in her home office in Durham, North Carolina. Adams said she was not surprised that the gender pay gap persists even among men and women with the same education and qualifications, or that the gap is wider for black and Hispanic women.
AP Photo/Chris Seward
Not even education can close the persistent wage gap between men and women, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report.
The Census Bureau study found that regardless of whether women earned a postsecondary credential or graduated from a top university, they still earned about 71 cents on the dollar compared to men with the same education.
This disparity becomes stark on March 12, Equal Pay Day, even though women make up more than half of college-educated workers and are joining the workforce at record rates.
The February 22 Census Bureau report does not compare men who work full-time to women who work full-time, but instead juxtaposes men and women with the same education levels: graduates of certificate degree programs and those with bachelor’s degrees from top universities , explained economist Kendall Houghton, co-author of the study. The report also includes graduates who may choose to exit the labor market, such as women with childcare responsibilities.
“The takeaway here is that there are huge disparities at every level,” added Census Bureau economist and co-author Ariel Binder.
Field of study, career choice, and timing account for most of the differences, but not all. For example, for top graduates, field of study contributes more to the pay gap (24.6%), but for less selective degree holders, it accounts for only a small proportion (3.8%). Binder said hours and weeks worked had a greater impact on the pay gap for those who earned a certificate (26.4 percent) than for those who selectively earned a bachelor’s degree (11.3 percent), suggesting greater gender differences in work participation among certificate holders difference.
Meanwhile, about 31% of the gap per educational attainment remains unexplained, suggesting that less easily measured factors such as gender stereotypes and discrimination may be at play.
Chantel Adams said she wasn’t surprised that the gender pay gap persists even among men and women with the same education and qualifications, or that the gap is wider for black and Hispanic women.
Adams, a senior marketing executive with an MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, said her qualifications were not enough to offset the headwinds she faced in her career as a black woman.
Adams said that despite taking on additional responsibilities and performing indisputably well, she was denied a promotion because she was told “I was so articulate that I was intimidating to some people.”
“I have nearly $300,000 to spend on my post-high school education. It would be surprising if I wasn’t articulate and sharp,” said Adams, who lives in Durham, North Carolina.
She said her colleagues at the company – one of whom did not have an MBA – were promoted while she was held back two years in a row.
“It’s unreasonable and unfair to use someone’s strengths against them,” Adams said. “I think it’s a race-based thing.”
Overall, young women earn wages closer to those of young men, said Carolina Aragao, who studies social and demographic trends at the Pew Research Center. But the gap widens between ages 35 and 44, when women are most likely to have children at home.
“This is not true for men,” Aragao said, adding that there is actually an opposite phenomenon known as a father’s premium, whereby fathers tend to earn more than other workers, including men without children at home.
Arago said that despite significant increases in the representation of women in C-suite positions and in high-wage industries, improvements in the pay gap have stalled for about 20 years. Unbalanced child care and family responsibilities, declining college pay premiums, and a disproportionate representation of low-wage occupations all contribute to the persistent wage gap.
For Adams, the best strategy for overcoming these difficulties was to keep changing jobs—in her case, six times in 10 years and across multiple states.
“I knew I needed to act with intention and urgency in my career to overcome this headwind,” she said. “When one company couldn’t provide me with these opportunities, I looked for other companies. “
Adams said job coaching, mentorship and support from the Forte Foundation, a nonprofit focused on the advancement of women, have been instrumental in her success, and that salary transparency laws — and even salary transparency within social circles — can help ease the pain for women. The challenge of the huge wage gap. Colored face.
But since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, corporate diversity measures have been subject to increasing litigation. Adams said she worries that without affirmative action, companies may also become less racially diverse.
“The big question that’s on my mind and that of many other executive leaders is: What impact will this have on the pipeline of diverse candidates that we may or may not have 10 years from now?” Adams said.
• Associated Press reporting on women in the workforce and state government receives financial support from Pivotal Philanthropies. The Associated Press is solely responsible for all content. Find AP standard For working with charities, a list of supporters and funded coverage is at Associated Press.
Senior marketing executive Chantel Adams poses as a black and Hispanic woman in her home office in Durham, North Carolina.
AP Photo/Chris Seward
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