| The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between gender composition and median weekly salaries for 10 previously or currently male-dominated occupations for the period 1983 to 2005 in the United States. Archival data were extracted from unpublished tables provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Current Population Surveys for lawyers, college teachers, elementary school teachers, physicians, accountants, bakers, mail carriers, pharmacists, psychologists, and bank tellers, with a total sample size of 6,531,000 employees for the last year studied. Aggregate data were subjected to multiple linear regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and independent samples t tests, using median weekly income transformed into inflation-adjusted year 2000 dollars as the dependent variable.; It was hypothesized that (a) as the proportion of women in these occupations increased overtime, wages for both men and women would decline; (b) the relationship between the proportion of women in these professions and wages would be both inverse and nonlinear such that a tipping point could be identified; and (c) the gender wage gap would be seen to increase in these professions over time.; Analyses failed to reveal an inverse relationship between the proportion of women in these occupations and wages, and a tipping point was not identified. Both of these findings were felt likely to have occurred on the basis of significant study limitations. An increasing gender wage gap over time for a majority of the occupations examined proved to be the most surprising finding of this investigation. This result was unexpected because none of the studies examined in the literature review predicted that the gender pay gap, which had narrowed to 75% in 1997 (Council of Economic Advisors, 1998), would begin to widen again. The present study demonstrated that this gap is, in fact, widening for many occupations generally presumed to be desegregated as well as equitable with regard to pay. |
