Unpacking the Gender Wage Gap: Integrating Gradational Measures of Gender Perceptions

Abstract

The wage gap between men and women remains a durable form of gender labor market stratification. In this article, we integrate gradational measures of gender perceptions with standard models of the binary gender wage gap. Specifically, we articulate two pathways through which gradational gender perceptions may assist in explaining the disparity in wages between people who identify as men and women: the “gender atypicality” perspective and the “masculinity premium” perspective. Drawing on original survey data from more than 4,000 workers in the low-wage service sector in the United States, we find that, on average, men and women receive higher wages when they are perceived as more masculine and that differences in perceived masculinity assist in explaining some of the binary gender wage gap. While this main set of findings aligns with the “masculinity premium” perspective, we show that this pattern is far from universal. It holds only among woman-dominated jobs and does not hold for tips. Additionally, women who are perceived as more masculine also report higher levels of gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Together, these findings contribute to our understanding of the gender wage gap, encourage the use of more gradational and perceptual measures of gender, and point to important heterogeneity in the ways that these processes operate.