Why Women Don't Ask: Gender Differences in Fairness Perceptions of Own Wages and Subsequent Wage Growth

Christian Pfeifer () and Gesine Stephan ()
Additional contact information
Gesine Stephan: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg

No 11320, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The authors analyze gender differences in fairness perceptions of own wages and subsequent wage growth. The main finding is that women perceive their wage more often as fair if controls for hourly wage rates, individual and job-related characteristics are taken into account. Furthermore, the gender difference is more pronounced for married than for single women. This points to the fact that social norms, gender roles, and gender identity are at least partly responsible for the gap in fairness perceptions. Further analysis shows that individuals, who perceive their wage as unfair, experience larger wage growth in subsequent years. An explanation would be that a wage perceived as unfair triggers negotiations for a better wage or induces individuals to search for better paid work. Thus, differences in wage perceptions can contribute to explain the nowadays still persistent gender wage gap.

Keywords: gender differences; fairness; social norms; wages; wage growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 J16 J31 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2018-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - revised version published in: Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2019, 43(2), 295-310

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Related works:
Journal Article: Why women do not ask: gender differences in fairness perceptions of own wages and subsequent wage growth (2019)
Working Paper: Why Women Don’t Ask: Gender Differences in Fairness Perceptions of Own Wages and Subsequent Wage Growth (2018)
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