In a survey by the Pew Research Center in October 2022, half of U.S. adults said that employers treating women differently is one of the main reasons for the wage gap between men and women. However, fewer people think that women make different choices about balancing work and family (only 42% of people think this) and that they work in lower-paying jobs (34%).
Men and women have different ideas as to why there is a wage gap. For example, women are much more likely than men (61% vs. 37%) to say employers treat women differently, which is a big reason for the wage gap. And while 45% of women say it’s because women choose to balance work and family in different ways, only 40% of men say this is a big reason.
Parents with kids younger than 18 are likelier to say that women’s choices about balancing work and family are a big reason for the wage gap (48% vs. 40%). But men and women answer this question differently depending on whether or not they have kids.
Different groups also have different ideas about why men and women are paid differently. For example, about two-thirds of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic (68%) say that how employers treat women is a major reason for wage differences, but only 30% of Republicans and independents who lean Republican agree. On the other hand, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say that women earn less than men because of how they choose to balance work and family (50 percent vs. 36 percent) and because they tend to work in lower-paying jobs (39 percent vs. 30 percent).
Democratic and Republican women are likelier than men in the same party to say that employers treat women differently, which is a big reason why men and women earn different amounts of money. For example, this is said by about 76% of Democratic women but only 59% of Democratic men. And only 18% of GOP men agree with the 43% of GOP women who say that employers who treat men and women differently are a major cause of the wage gap between men and women.
Both genders face stress at work
Research has revealed that being a mother can lower a woman’s income while being a father can raise a man’s income.
A survey done by the Center in October found that working women and men feel about the same amount of pressure to make a lot of money for their families and do well at their jobs and careers. But women, especially working mothers, feel more pressure than men to take care of their home duties.
About half of working women (48%) say they feel a lot of pressure to take care of their responsibilities at home, but only 35% of working men say the same. Also, two-thirds (67%) of working moms with kids younger than 18 say the same thing, but only 45% of working dads say the same thing.
About the same number of working moms and dads say they feel a lot of pressure to make money for their families (57% vs. 62%). This is mostly because so many working mothers who are not married say they feel a lot of pressure in this area (77%). But working dads are much more likely to feel pressured to make money for their families (60%) than working moms (43%). (For a separate analysis, there needed to be more working single fathers in the sample.)
About four out of ten working parents say they feel pressure to do well at their job or career. The same things happen to both men and women.
Different roles and massive wage gap
The Center’s survey found that 25% of working adults in the United States say they are the boss or a top manager where they work. Another 33% say they are not in charge now but would like to be in the future. 41%, on the other hand, are not the boss or a top manager and do not want to be.
Men are more likely than women to be the boss or a top manager (28% vs. 21%). This is especially true for working dads since 35% of them say they are the boss or a top manager where they work. (At least some of the differences in attitude between fathers and men without children are due to differences in marital status and level of education.)
Read Also: Pay gap still exists in most jobs in the US
Women are less likely than men to say they are the boss or the top manager at work, and they are also more likely to say they don’t want to be in this position in the future. For example, 46% of working women say this, but only 37% of working men say the same thing. On the other hand, 35% of men and 31% of women who are not the boss say that they would like to be one day. These are things that every parent does the same way.
