IZA World of Labor Spotlight: Gender Pay Gap

In a piece published by the Daily Telegraph today Theresa May called the gender pay gap a “burning injustice” and vowed to close it “within a generation.” This statement comes amid a rapidly approaching deadline tonight for firms with more than 250 employees to publish the average pay gap between their male and female workers.

The Prime Minister blames “old-fashioned work practices” for the pay gap but in fact little is said in her article about the reasons behind this phenomenon.

To fill this information gap IZA World of Labor has put together latest research on the gender pay gap.

The selected IZA World of Labor reports cover a wide range of topics including:

Antti Kauhanen (The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, Finland) talking about Gender differences in corporate hierarchies

Boris Hirsch (Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany) looking at: Gender wage discriminationand the extent to which competition in labor markets explains why female workers are paid less than men.

Antonio Filippin (University of Milan) arguing that the belief in the existence of gender differences in risk attitudes is stronger than the evidence supporting it.

Mario Lackner (Johannes Kepler University, Linz) answering the question: how far can different attitudes towards competition for men and women explain the gender gap?

Nina Smith (Aarhus University, Denmark) looking at the effect of gender quotas on boards of directors on the productivity of companies.

Should you have any questions relating to the gender pay gap or the research relating to it our expert and spokesperson, economist Lawrence M. Kahn of Cornell University, is available to answer questions.

Media Contact:
Please contact Anna von Hahn for more information or for author interviews: anna.vonhahn@bloomsbury.com or +44 7852 882 770