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Explaining the Gender Wage Gap in STEM: Does Field Sex Composition Matter?

Using the National Science Foundation’s SESTAT data, the study examines the gender wage gap by race among those working in computer science, life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering.

Bibliographic Data

Michelmore, Katherine; Sassler, Sharon
Publisher: The Russell Sage Foundation

Content Description

About this Publication

  • Publication Type: Study
  • Topic: Innovative content of gender
  • Publication source: International
  • Release Year: 2016
  • Published in: Journal of the Social Sciences Vol. 2, No. 4, pp 194–215

We find that in fields with a greater representation of women (the life and physical sciences), the gender wage gap can largely be explained by differences in observed characteristics between men and women working in those fields. In the fields with the lowest concentration of women (computer science and engineering), gender wage gaps persist even after controlling for observed characteristics. In assessing how this gap changes over time, we find evidence of a narrowing for more recent cohorts of college graduates in the life sciences and engineering. The computer sciences and physical sciences, however, show no clear pattern in the gap across cohorts of graduates.

Slide set created by ÖGUT for FEMtech

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