Gender Gap in Pay Expectations: The Role of Sex Segregation in Education

Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska , University of Warsaw

This paper deals with gender differences in pay expectations. Using data from 2006-2017 Labor Force Survey for Poland it shows that the size of the gender gap in expected pay amounts to -10%, which is almost twice less than the gender pay gap reported for working population. Inequality in pay expectations does not appear to be driven by men’s and women’s characteristics, including their choice of the field of education, but by their different ‘expected returns’ to these characteristics. In particular, men and women have different ‘expected returns’ to fields of education that may be defined by the degree of sex segregation. While women educated in ‘male’ dominated fields do not expect to receive neither lower nor higher pay, men educated in ‘female’ dominated fields expect to receive higher pay than their colleagues studying in ‘gender neutral’ fields. These results are interpreted in light of two hypotheses: (1) positive selection of individuals to fields dominated by the opposite sex, and (2) the internalization of existing gender norms and expectations concerning productivity.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy