Justice

Bad News for 32-Year-Old Women

June 23rd 2016

You're probably aware that a wage gap between men and women exists, but now there's some new data to show when, and why, that pay disparity starts to widen.

Workforce analytics firm Visier found in a new report based on 165,000 employees from 31 companies that the wage gap between men and women begins to noticeably widen at age 32, the Wall Street Journal reports.

At age 32, women "earn approximately 90 percent of their male counterparts’ incomes, a share that declines to 82 percent by age 40," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Why is 32 the tragic number?

The reason for this is partly due to the lack of opportunity for women to be promoted to higher paying managerial positions as they get older.

According to information from Visier's database, managers earn twice as much money than non-managers. However, men secure these jobs more often than women do.

Why does this happen in the first place?

It's hard to nail down a single factor that drives this management gap, however, it's probably not a coincidence that women start getting passed over for management positions at the same time in life they start facing societal pressures to have children.

As Thor Benson previously wrote for ATTN:, "Women often take the role of 'lead parent,' taking time off from work or turning down promotions because they are expected to take care of children. The societal expectation that women take the primary role in raising kids is surely a reason the wage gap persists."

Even though women make up almost half the workforce and are the primary earners in 4 out 10 homes, they continue to earn less than men. Last year, women workers made only 79 cents for every dollar made by men, putting the wage gap at 21 percent, the Institute for Women's Policy Research found.

Visier also found that if "the same proportion of male and female workers were managers, approximately one-third of the wage gap for workers over age 32 would disappear," the Wall Street Journal reported.

[h/t WSJ]

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