Kerby Anderson

The pay gap between men and women has been the source of economic discussion and political debate for decades. Progressives claim that the gender pay gap is due to sexism and requires government intervention. But others argue that the difference has more to do with the priorities of women in the workforce and the choices they make.

The Wall Street Journal recently summarized a study done by Harvard economists of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It provided a perfect test case since it is a union shop with uniform hourly wages in which men and women adhere to the same rules and thus enjoy the same benefits. Workers are promoted based on seniority, not performance. Men and women have the same option for scheduling, routes, vacation, and overtime. The rules and regulations made it nearly impossible for bias, sexism, or preferential treatment to affect pay.

Even at the Transportation Authority, female bus and train operators earned less than men. In order to explain why, the professors looked at time cards and scheduling and compared it to such factors as sex, age, seniority, and tenure.

They found that male bus and train operators worked about 83 percent more overtime hours than their female colleagues. They were also more than twice as likely to accept an overtime shift on short notice. Since the agency pays time and a half for overtime, this obviously affected earnings.

The economists also found that female bus and train operators were much more likely to take routes that wouldn’t require them to work nights, weekends, and holidays. That is why they concluded that, “women, especially single women with children, value both time and the ability to avoid unplanned work much more than men.”

I think that is the best explanation for the gender pay gap.