Unequal pay: The role of gender

Pay disparities between men and women persist in the U.S. workforce despite comparable pay legislation, advocacy, and social change. This article discusses theories of gender pay disparities, such as the glass ceiling, position segregation, agency segregation, and human capital. Using an online national survey, 1, 600 responses were collected for four groups of public procurement professionals. The gender wage gap ranged from $5,035 to $9,577. Multiple regression of the data show that gender continues to play a major role in predicting the salaries Of public officials in similar positions. Gender and human capital variables predicted between 36.5 percent and 53.9 percent of the variance in pay.