The pay gap between women and men is narrowing, but only very slowly. Currently, female employees in Germany earn a total of 21 percent less than male employees. Another factor is that women are often concentrated in traditionally female occupations and industries, where pay levels are generally lower. But the University of Bamberg has investigated what happens when women enter traditionally male-dominated occupations. The good news for men: They don’t get paid less when the proportion of women in a traditionally male-dominated profession increases. The bad news for women: Nevertheless, the average income level in a profession declines when more women enter it.
Sociologist Corinna Kleinert from the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories in Bamberg has measured this: If the proportion of women in a profession increases by ten percentage points, the income level drops by four. According to the researcher’s findings, this is because women are paid less even when they enter a traditionally male-dominated profession. As their proportion grows, they pull the average down. So far, so logical, so simple.
A popular explanation for the nationwide average wage gap of 21 percent between men and women is that women choose the wrong professions. Those who become social workers instead of engineers simply earn less. From Kleinert’s perspective, however, what matters more is the value placed on women’s work. The question is not: Why do women choose low-paying professions? But rather: Why are women’s professions paid less? The sociologist explains: “Typical women’s professions, such as child-rearing and caregiving, were assigned to the sphere of the household, not the market. Therefore, they were worth nothing on the market. This has a long history, has developed over time, and is therefore changing only very slowly.”
Persistent Gender Roles
Yet even though women’s professions often lead to a financial dead end, preferences in career choice remain as constant as the wage gap. “The idea of which gender does which job takes root in elementary school. It’s deeply ingrained in us,” says Kleinert. Just how deeply ingrained it is becomes evident even in fields where women have broken into what were once male-dominated domains. Teaching and medicine are extensions of traditional “women’s professions” in education and caregiving. “It’s asking a lot to expect individuals to resist this way of thinking,” says Kleinert. That’s why events like Girls’ Day or efforts to recruit women for science fields make little difference. “They only address the issue in isolated instances and come too late in the course of a person’s life,” says Kleinert. “We need to start this in elementary school at the latest.”
Gender stereotypes in career choices are not only persisting—they’re also spreading. In the eastern German states, where women often worked in traditionally male-dominated professions during the GDR era, they are increasingly making career choices similar to those of women in western Germany. Interestingly, in some regions of western Germany, women earn more on average than men.
According to Bamberg-based researcher Kleinert, wage structures must change to close the wage gap. The introduction of the minimum wage, for example, illustrates the effects that changes in wage structures can have. Compared to the previous year, the gap between women and men has narrowed by one percentage point. Collective bargaining agreements reduce the wage gap even more significantly. In 2010, the gap was about eight percentage points smaller in metalworking companies with collective bargaining agreements than in those without. Nevertheless, a gap remains. It is not due to pay grade classifications, as a survey by IG Metall revealed. Most women were correctly classified. However, it was noticeable that women were frequently absent from the higher pay grades, were less likely to advance to a higher pay grade, and that jobs held by women often did not receive allowances and bonuses. For Christiane Benner, Second Chair of IG Metall, the results show: “Despite good pay grading policies in companies, there is still a great deal to be done to close the wage gap.”
The law to promote transparency in pay structures, which was passed by the cabinet, could bring about progress. Under this law, employees at companies with more than 200 workers have an individual right to receive information about their pay. Christiane Benner welcomes the law: “The difference between women’s and men’s incomes remains striking. The proposed law is a first step toward creating greater transparency regarding wage and salary structures and raising awareness of discriminatory pay structures in companies.” She criticizes, however, that the law applies only to companies with 200 or more employees. Women often work in smaller companies. It can only be effective if the ministry significantly lowers the threshold.
