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State-Level Policies, Descriptive Representation, and the Gender Pay Gap, 2010–2019

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Abstract

The gender pay gap serves as a barometer of gender inequality. Researchers across a variety of disciplines have researched the economic, political, and social factors contributing to the gender pay gap. Yet, much of the existing research focuses more on national trends and less on the variation among states. In this study, we investigate the political factors associated with state variation in the gender pay gap using 2010–2019 panel data provided by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Using a linear model with fixed effects for state and year, as well as a Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition model, we test the relationship between the state-level gender pay gap, equal pay protections, and descriptive representation. Our findings suggest that stronger equal pay protections and more women elected to state political office are associated with smaller gender pay gaps in the American states. Electing more women alone, however, is unlikely to mitigate the gap. Implications for future policies and scholarly research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. The gender variable used in this analysis is based on median values, which encompass all median incomes of men and women. It takes into account—but does not specifically recognize—pay disparities based on other protected statuses, such as race or ethnicity or non-binary gender identities.

  2. The AAUW did not complete reports with the state pay gap for the years 2012 and 2014. Those years are excluded from our analysis. Our substantive results hold if we limit our analysis to the consecutive years between 2015 and 2019.

  3. It is important to note that the AAUW, a standard-bearer for activism and public research, alternates between income and wages in reporting on women’s economic inequality. In addition, some researchers examine the gender pay gap in terms of yearly or weekly income derived from paid labor, while others use hourly wages, or a combination of both (Blau and Khan 2003).

  4. In the ACS, females/women and males/men appear to be used interchangeably. There is no corresponding option for non-binary gender identification. For these reasons, we have used the language applied by the source in our findings. Although proposed in 2018, S.3114—Census Equality Act has not passed; thus, federal data does not currently require non-binary gender identities to be included (Congress 2018).

  5. The AAUW (2018) provides an explanation of the earnings ratio, which demonstrates that the earnings ratio can be calculated using either yearly income or weekly wages (American Association of University Women 2018).

  6. We collapsed the final category to include state years that have three or more policies as this incorporates only sixteen of the four hundred state year observations.

  7. Such public policies include abortion regulations, same-sex marriage, voter identification laws, collective bargaining for public employees, Medicaid coverage, minimum wage, and preemption (Flavin and Shufeldt 2017; Flavin and Shufeldt 2020; Fowler and Witt 2019; Park et al., 2014).

  8. Citizen liberalism is a concept described by Erikson et al. (1993) to refer to the degree to which citizens within a given population support liberalism (Erikson et al., 1993).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their appreciation to the American Association of University Women (AAUW) for providing access to their 2010-2019 data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology & Criminology, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Ashley C. F. Hutson

  2. Department of History & Political Science, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Gregory Shufeldt

  3. Master of Arts in Public History, Graduate of American University, Washington, DC, USA

    Claudia Vinci

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  1. Ashley C. F. Hutson
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  2. Gregory Shufeldt
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  3. Claudia Vinci
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Contributions

Conceptualization: GS, ACFH, and CV; Methodology: GS, ACFH; Formal analysis and investigation: GS, ACFH; Writing—original draft preparation: ACFH, GS, CV; Writing—review and editing: ACFH, GS.

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Correspondence to Ashley C. F. Hutson.

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Conflict of interest

The first author is a member of the Indianapolis chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Data used in this study originated from the national AAUW organization. No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Hutson, A.C.F., Shufeldt, G. & Vinci, C. State-Level Policies, Descriptive Representation, and the Gender Pay Gap, 2010–2019. Gend. Issues 40, 185–205 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-023-09311-7

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