Economy

It Could Be 100 Years Until Women Reach Wage Equality

October 5th 2015

It's no secret that women often make less than their male counterparts across a variety of workplaces, and hold significantly fewer top executive jobs. But according to a new study out this week, there is still a long way to go: it could be 100 years or more until gender equality levels out in the top job field.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) numbers show that the wage gap between men and women has definitely changed from 30 years ago, when women made around 62 percent of what men earned. But women are still much less likely to be promoted to top positions, the study found.

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Researchers from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org looked at nearly 30,000 employees across 118 North American companies and concluded that women were three times as likely to admit missing an assignment opportunity, promotion, or raise thanks to their gender. They were around 15 percent less likely to be promoted than men, and at that rate, researchers said, it could be a full century until men and women can sit as equals and compete for the same corner office.

Women in the Workplace 2015Women in the Workplace 2015 - womenintheworkplace.com

The reasons behind the disparity are multi-faceted, ranging from disparities in perceived growth opportunity between companies and women employees, to slightly lower numbers of women expressing a desire to be a top executive compared to men, to differing professional networks between the two genders and persistent inequality at home. Overall, the research suggests that persistent problems still block speedy advancement in the workplace—which only add to the more basic disparities in wage equality.

According to BLS, full-time and salaried women in 2013 made 82 cents of the median weekly earnings of their male counterparts.

Full-time and salary women's earnings compared to men's Bureau of Labor Statistics - bls.gov

Check out the full report here: Women in the Workplace 2015

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