Sometimes social science comes up with some pretty interesting insights into inequalities in this world. And a new study that tracked over 12,000 people for 26 years has done just that.

The researchers in this study wondered how people’s attitudes toward gender roles might affect their earning potential and came to a surprising conclusion. The inequality in earnings between women and men isn’t as clear-cut as what gender you are, but also what types of attitudes you hold toward the opposite sex.

The study found a significant difference in earnings between men who have a traditional attitude about gender roles (e.g., women belong in the home raising the kids) and both men and women who hold egalitarian views (e.g., women are equal to men doing all things). They also earned more than women who held the same traditional attitudes.

The spread in earnings is significant between the traditional attitude men’s group and the other three groups:

• Traditional attitude, man: $34,725
• Egalitarian attitude, man: $22,795
• Traditional attitude, woman: $20,321
• Egalitarian attitude, woman: $21,373

The researchers didn’t examine the question of why this relationship exists (and also, of course, couldn’t tell which way the relationship goes), but they offered a few ideas. Traditionally-minded men have the type of personality that is more focused on earning more and is therefore better at negotiating higher salaries. Or perhaps that employers unconsciously are discriminating against anyone who falls outside of the stereotype of traditional gender roles.

I find the latter hypothesis hard to swallow, having worked in a wide variety of corporate American jobs. While certainly there may be specific industries where that may be true, I doubt it is so widespread to be the norm.

As for negotiating a better salary, that seems to be a potential explanation. It would’ve been nice, however, if the researchers had thought to ask some personality-based questions in their interviews, to try and get at possible explanations.

The study has ramifications for future work in this area, suggesting that the wage disparity exists not just between the sexes, but also between two very different outlooks on what role women play in the workplace (and the world).

Read the full news story: High Wage-Earners Are Sexist

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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high wage earners are sexist | Psychobabbling (9/22/2008)

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 22 Sep 2008
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