Sources of Gender-Based Occupational Segregation a Comparison of the United States and Japan

Abstract

The problem does have a name in the work force; identifying, quantifying, and explaining it, however, may pose quite a challenge. The fact is that women do not earn as much as men in the United States. A survey of 1 990 annual salaries published in a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report (1991 ) revealed that, on the average, "despite more than two decades of battles for equal opportunity, women still earn less than men in almost every field. . . " (40). For example, female lawyers and judges earned 70% of the salaries enjoyed by their male counterparts. For financial managers, the ratio was 67% for those in production jobs, 59% and for sales jobs, 58%. For many, these statistics are not surprising-but neither are they unique to the United States. Mincer (1985) shows both the persistent and the universal nature of wage gaps between male and female workers.