Explained | Why Women Are Paid Less | FULL EPISODE | Netflix

Summary

The script addresses the global gender pay gap, highlighting varying rates by country and the complex factors contributing to the disparity. It emphasizes that while overt discrimination plays a role, societal expectations of women as primary caregivers significantly impact earnings, especially after childbirth. The script also showcases success stories from Iceland and Rwanda, where aggressive policies have nearly eliminated the pay gap, and calls for a cultural shift recognizing men as equal caregivers.

Takeaways

• 😀 The gender pay gap varies by country, with women in Poland earning 91 cents for every dollar a man makes, while in South Korea, it's only 65 cents.
• 😀 The gender pay gap is often attributed to factors beyond overt discrimination, such as cultural norms and caregiving responsibilities.
• 😀 Historical factors like lower education rates for women, fewer women in the workforce, and legal discrimination contributed to the initial pay gap.
• 😀 Changes in the workforce and educational attainment have improved women's economic status, but caregiving responsibilities still significantly impact earnings.
• 😀 The 'motherhood penalty' is a key driver of the gender pay gap, with women with children earning significantly less than women without children and men.
• 😀 Examples from Rwanda and Iceland show that policy changes and cultural shifts can significantly reduce the gender pay gap.
• 😀 Rwanda's recovery from the 1994 genocide led to increased female participation in the workforce and political representation, closing the pay gap significantly.
• 😀 Iceland's policies, including mandatory paternity leave, have helped shift cultural norms about caregiving, reducing the pay gap to about 90 cents on the dollar.
• 😀 While family-friendly policies can reduce the pay gap, they may come with trade-offs, particularly for small businesses.
• 😀 Achieving gender pay equality requires cultural shifts that view both men and women as caregivers and breadwinners.

Q & A

What is the general pay gap situation for women around the world according to the script?

The script indicates varying pay gaps in different countries: 91 cents on the dollar in Poland, 81 cents in Israel, and just 65 cents in South Korea.

What is the fastest multiplier for growth mentioned in the script?

The script suggests that freeing the potential of women is the fastest multiplier for growth and an accelerator in eradicating poverty.

Why does the script mention that the pay gap is not solely about discrimination?

The script points out that while overt pay discrimination exists, a significant body of research shows it only explains a small part of the gender pay gap.

What does the script say about women's expectations regarding equal opportunity and pay?

Women are not looking for a leg up but rather equal opportunity and equal pay, which is a significant distinction from just seeking a reduction in the pay gap.

How did the script describe the historical context of women's roles in the workforce in the United States?

The script describes a time in the 1950s when most women, especially white women, did not work outside the home, and those who did often had lower education levels and were concentrated in traditionally feminine industries.

What role does the script suggest that cultural norms about gender roles and aptitudes played in the pay gap?

The script suggests that cultural norms about gender roles and aptitudes were among the major explanations for the pay gap, alongside other factors such as lower female education rates and legal allowances for pay inequality.

According to the script, what is the primary reason that women's pay has not caught up with men's, even after significant social changes?

The script identifies the enduring expectation that women will be the primary caregivers for children as the primary reason that women's pay has not caught up with men's.

What does the script reveal about the impact of childbirth on women's earnings, as illustrated by a Danish study?

The Danish study mentioned in the script shows that childbirth significantly affects women's earnings, contributing to a larger pay gap for women who are mothers compared to women without children or all men.

How have Iceland and Rwanda managed to almost close their wage gaps, and what lessons can be learned from their experiences?

Iceland and Rwanda have implemented aggressive policies aimed at gender equality, including guaranteed maternity leave, use-it-or-lose-it paternity leave, and constitutional commitments to equal rights, which have contributed to a significant reduction in their pay gaps.

What is the 'motherhood penalty' mentioned in the script, and how does it contribute to the pay gap?

The 'motherhood penalty' refers to the additional pay gap experienced by women who are mothers, suggesting that being a caregiver, more so than being a woman, contributes to the disparity in earnings.

What is the script's stance on the necessity of cultural shifts for achieving gender pay equality?

The script advocates for a cultural shift that challenges the expectation that women should be the primary caregivers, suggesting that until men and women are seen as both caregivers and breadwinners, true gender pay equality will remain elusive.

Outlines

00:00

😔 Global Gender Pay Gap and Its Impact

The first paragraph discusses the varying pay gaps for women around the world, highlighting specific countries like Poland, Israel, and South Korea. It emphasizes the importance of women's economic empowerment for growth and poverty eradication. The script also touches on the misconception of equal pay for equal work, explaining that overt discrimination is only a small part of the issue. The paragraph underscores the need for equal opportunities and pay, and the importance of cultural change in addressing the pay gap.

05:03

🤰 The Motherhood Penalty and Societal Expectations

This paragraph delves into the persistent societal expectation that women should be the primary caregivers, even as they advance in their careers. It discusses how this expectation affects women's earning potential and contributes to the pay gap. The script presents statistics on the time women spend on childcare and housework compared to men, and how this disparity affects career progression. It also mentions the impact of childbirth on women's earnings and the societal attitudes that contribute to the motherhood penalty.

10:05

🌍 Successful Strategies in Closing the Wage Gap

The third paragraph examines how two countries, Iceland and Rwanda, have made significant progress in closing the gender pay gap. It outlines the historical context and policies that have led to these achievements, such as ...

Keywords

💡Pay Gap

The pay gap refers to the difference in average earnings between men and women. In the video, it is highlighted that the pay gap varies globally, with examples given for Poland, Israel, and South Korea. The theme of the video revolves around understanding and addressing this disparity, emphasizing that it is not solely due to discrimination but also deeply rooted in societal expectations and cultural norms.

💡Equal Pay for Equal Work

This concept suggests that individuals performing the same job should receive the same compensation, regardless of their gender. The video script mentions this phrase multiple times, indicating it as a common rallying cry for gender pay equity. However, the script also points out that the pay gap is more complex than just equal pay for the same job, involving broader issues of opportunity and societal roles.

💡Discrimination

Discrimination in the context of the video refers to the unfair treatment of women in the workplace, which can contribute to the pay gap. The script notes that while overt pay discrimination exists, it only explains a small part of the overall gender pay gap, suggesting that other factors are also significant.

💡Career Opportunities

Career opportunities denote the range of jobs and positions available to individuals. The video discusses how women's access to career opportunities has historically been limited, often confining them to lower-paying or less prestigious roles. The expansion of these opportunities for women is presented as a key factor in reducing the pay gap.

💡Cultural Norms

Cultural norms are the unwritten rules and expectations within a society. The script uses the term to describe societal expectations that have traditionally assigned women the primary role of caregivers and men as breadwinners. These norms are identified as a major factor perpetuating the pay gap.

💡Motherhood Penalty

The motherhood penalty refers to the wage disparity that mothers face compared to women without children or men. The video script explains that this penalty is a significant contributor to the pay gap, as women who become mothers often experience a stagnation or decrease in their earning potential due to societal expectations and workplace policies.

💡Gender Roles

Gender roles are the societal expectations about the behaviors and activities appropriate for men and women. The video discusses how traditional gender roles have historically limited women's participation in the workforce and affected their earning potential, contributing to the pay gap.

💡Workforce Participation

Workforce participation refers to the labor market engagement of individuals in a given population. The script notes the historical increase in women's workforce participation and how it has contributed to a reduction in the pay gap, although not eliminating it.

💡Parental Leave

Parental leave is the time off work granted to care for a newborn or newly adopted child. The video script discusses how policies regarding parental leave, particularly in Iceland, have been used to encourage more equitable distribution of caregiving responsibilities between men and women, which can help to reduce the pay gap.

💡Caregiver

A caregiver is someone who looks after and provides for the needs of others, often in a familial context. The video emphasizes the societal expectation that women are the primary caregivers, which affects their career trajectories and earnings, contributing to the pay gap.

💡Breadwinner

A breadwinner is the primary earner in a family. The script discusses the traditional expectation that men are the breadwinners, which influences workplace policies and cultural norms, impacting the pay gap and the division of labor within families.

Highlights

The gender pay gap varies globally, with women in Poland earning 91 cents, in Israel 81 cents, and in South Korea only 65 cents for every dollar a man earns.

Emphasizing the potential of women as a significant accelerator for economic growth and poverty eradication.

Highlighting the misconception that women receive a 'woman's discount' in stores, affecting family income distribution.

Explaining that the phrase 'equal pay for equal work' often implies discrimination against women for their gender, rather than their work.

Presenting research indicating that overt pay discrimination only accounts for a small part of the gender pay gap.

Women seeking equal opportunity and pay, distinguishing this from a 'leg up' in the workplace.

The necessity for active cultural change rather than passivity, as emphasized by Rachel McAdams.

The historical context of women's limited presence and education in the workforce, particularly in the United States during the 1950s.

The legal discrimination in the past, allowing job listings for men only and perpetuating gender stereotypes.

The significant cultural and policy changes in recent decades that have reduced the pay gap, except for the persistent expectation of women as primary caregivers.

The disproportionate amount of time women spend on childcare and housework compared to men, contributing to the pay gap.

The impact of childbirth on women's career trajectories and earnings, as opposed to men's, as illustrated by various studies.

The 'motherhood penalty' as a significant factor in the gender pay gap, affecting women with children more than those without.

The differing societal expectations and choices available to women and men regarding caregiving and work, influenced by cultural norms.

The success stories of Iceland and Rwanda in significantly reducing the gender pay gap through aggressive policies and cultural shifts.

Transcripts

[Rachel McAdams] The pay gap between men and women around the world

looks a little different depending on how you measure it.

In Poland, women earn 91 cents for every dollar a man does.

In Israel, it's 81 cents.

In South Korea, women make just 65 cents on the dollar.

We know that just freeing the potential of women,

that is the fastest multiplier that we have in terms of our growth.

That is such an accelerator in eradicating poverty.

When you go to the store, you don't get a woman's discount.

You have to pay the same as everybody else.

So that comes out of your family income.

[McAdams] When someone mentions the pay gap,

you often hear another phrase as well.

-Equal pay... -...for equal work.

-Equal pay... -...for equal work.

[McAdams] It makes it sound like women are paid less

for doing the same job as men,

which means women are paid less just for being women.

There's a word for that, discrimination.

But a huge body of research from many countries shows

that overt pay discrimination only potentially explains

a small part of the gender pay gap.

It's a real number, but it really, actually tells you almost nothing

about the real disparity between men and women.

Women aren't looking for a leg up. They want equal opportunity

and equal pay. Big difference.

If you want to change culture, you can't sit down and wait.

You must do something about it.

[McAdams] So, if it's not all about discrimination,

why are women around the world paid so much less than men?

[man] The woman who works at a career has chosen to ignore that the woman's place...

It doesn't matter if you have a female or male body,

they should be paid accordingly.

[man] I see some really advanced clerical work.

Pays women 80 cents for every dollar it pays men.

[woman] This is our time to stand up to have our voices heard.

And women will lead this country.

That's what this is all about.

[McAdams] The story in the United States is similar to a lot of countries.

It wasn't very long ago that most women, especially white women,

didn't work outside the home at all.

When you go back to the 1950s,

there weren't very many women in the workforce.

The women there were were often not as well educated as the men.

They either didn't finish college,

or they didn't have the same credentials in college,

or hadn't gone to college at all.

Most of the women in my neighborhood did not work.

My mother did not work.

The only women that I saw in professional roles were teachers.

[McAdams] Most women didn't get that far.

Seventy percent had menial jobs on factory assembly lines or in offices.

[man] Women workers don't mind routine, repetitive work,

and they're good on work that requires high finger dexterity.

[McAdams] People understood that a woman might need to earn a little money,

but a career? That was for men.

Your high score on the clerical aptitude test

indicates that you can become a good secretary.

[McAdams] Discrimination was also totally legal,

allowing employers to put out job listings for men only.

When I was growing up,

I knew one woman lawyer. One.

I never met a woman doctor.

I couldn't have even imagined women engineers.

[McAdams] The pay gap hovered around 60 cents on the dollar.

It was caused by several interconnected factors,

like lower female education rates,

women not being in the workforce in big numbers,

grouping in traditionally feminine industries,

and the fact that it was perfectly legal to pay women less,

and then a slew of cultural norms about gender roles and aptitudes.

These were the major explanations for the pay gap.

And then, in just a few decades, things changed.

Sisterhood is powerful! Join us now!

[man] The battle cry of the women's liberation movement

rings out down New York's Fifth Avenue.

[man] First woman to receive the highest honor of the National...

[man] The House broke into spontaneous applause.

Benazir Bhutto, the new prime minister.

[man] This is the first American woman in space.

[applause]

[man] First woman nominated to the Supreme Court.

[man] First woman ever to run on a Presidential ticket.

My candidacy has said to women, "The doors of opportunity are open."

Women are out-earning men in college degrees and advanced degrees.

[woman] Women are engaged to bring the next generation.

For the first time in history,

women are actually outnumbering men in the workplace.

This was just a sea change

to see women competing for scholarships I couldn't have competed for,

going to schools that were not open to women,

taking on jobs that were closed to women.

That's changed... just... unbelievably.

[McAdams] Many of the factors that were causing the pay gap shrunk,

except for one.

[Anne-Marie Slaughter] But what has stayed is that women bear children.

They are assumed to be the primary caregiver.

[McAdams] Even as women became doctors, and lawyers, and heads of state,

the popular expectation remained in society

that they would still do most of the work of raising children.

In the United States, in the UK,

even in progressive Scandinavian countries,

surveys today show only a fraction of the population

thinks women should work full-time when they have young kids.

When it comes to men, the expectation flips.

Seventy percent of Americans think that new fathers should work full-time.

There still is a considerable percentage of people,

not just in our country, but around the world, who really think

once you're a mom, you shouldn't be in the workplace.

And that's been proven wrong, short-sighted over and over again.

I learned, after I went back, when my time was constrained,

not by my employer, but by me,

because I wanted to get home to that baby and spend time with her,

that I could actually get a lot of work done in 15 minutes.

Like, I would take any opportunity to work.

I've become, I think, a much better employee since I've had children.

[McAdams] Even when a mother does work full-time just like her male partner,

she spends nine hours a week more than him on childcare and housework.

Over a year, that's the equivalent

of an extra three months of a full-time job.

This is the heart of the pay gap,

and to understand why, it helps to follow the story

of a young couple just starting out on their careers.

I often think about the trajectories

of the many law students I taught.

They look exactly the same.

They have the same educational record, the same experience.

And then you watch what starts to happen

as they hit their late 20s, early 30s, childbearing years,

and they start thinking about having children.

If they have children, at that point, somebody has to be home.

You can have lots of childcare,

but a parent needs to be at home for those situations that needs a parent.

So he's likely to get promoted.

She, on the other hand, has had to turn down some of those assignments,

say no to some of that travel.

So eight years out, ten years out,

typically, he's then a partner, and he can do lots of things from there.

She hasn't made partner. She's not earning the same.

She's working flexibly, or even part-time,

and from there, her earning potential and his just keep diverging.

[McAdams] This is the story the data tells us in study after study

in a variety of different countries.

One Danish study did an especially good job

of showing how childbirth affects earnings.

[McAdams] Here's a man's pay trajectory.

Watch what happens when his child is born.

Here's the woman's trajectory.

So then if you compare the earnings of a woman with kids

to a woman without kids,

you can see that the pay gap isn't as much about being a woman

as it is about being a mom.

The gender gap really is between women with children and everybody else.

Women who are not caregivers earn 96% of every dollar.

It's a motherhood penalty.

[McAdams] Some mothers don't see this as a problem.

They want to spend more time with their children.

They don't mind if it means making less.

Some women make a job choice based on the fact they want to have families.

Nothing wrong with that.

Presenting it as, you know, a penalty is kind of denying

first, that women make that choice,

but also that there's some extreme value...

not just for the children, the family, but also for the women making that choice.

A pay gap based on choices, you know, is different

than a pay gap that's just because you're a woman,

and you just can't get equal pay for doing the same thing a guy does.

[McAdams] But often, women and men don't get the same choices.

In the US, there are three times as many single moms as single dads.

And growing up, most of us get the message

that caregiving is more of a woman's job than a man's.

Take, for example, a 1980s advice column about how to decorate your desk at work

that still rings true today.

Someone wrote in and said, "I've just gotten a big promotion,

so I'll have my own work space for the first time.

How should I decorate it?" And here was the answer,

"I can't tell from your initials whether you're a man or a woman,

and the answer depends upon which you are.

If you're a man, and you have a family, plaster your office with family pictures,

because people will think you're a very good provider.

If you're a woman, and you have children,

don't put pictures up in your office of your family,

because people will think you can't keep your mind on your work."

[McAdams] The roots of this issue go deep to how we understand family

and mothers and fathers.

It's why the gap is so hard to close.

But it's not impossible.

Two countries, Iceland and Rwanda,

have almost closed their wage gaps, and in just a few decades.

And looking at these two cases reveals important lessons

about what it takes to create a society

where women are paid almost the same as men.

Rwanda is one of the poorest nations on Earth,

and until just a few decades ago, women were denied many basic rights.

[Consolee Nishimwe] Before 1994,

women were not allowed to speak in public.

Married women were not allowed

to open a bank account without the authorization of their husbands.

[McAdams] But in 1994, everything changed.

The fifth day of carnage and bloodshed in the Central African nation of Rwanda.

Thousands of people are feared dead tonight...

The fiercest fighting yet in the Central African nation of Rwanda.

[McAdams] In just three months, 800,000 people were murdered.

Losing my dad and my three brothers,

I survived with my mom and my sister.

[McAdams] After the violence, the Rwandan population was 60 to 70% women.

It destroyed completely the social fabric.

You do anything you can do to survive.

[McAdams] The shortage of men meant

that women had to step into the workforce in huge numbers,

taking on jobs that a year earlier would have been unheard of.

You'll find a woman who was police, for instance, or in the military.

Gradually, women were found, like, being a mayor, a governor.

Women actually were helping to change, you know, the country.

[McAdams] The new government realized that to rebuild Rwanda,

they needed women.

So they immediately implemented a host of new policies

aimed at getting more women into positions of power.

The preamble to the new Constitution

included a commitment to equal rights between men and women,

stipulating that 30% of representatives at all levels of government be women.

Today in Rwanda, women hold 61% of the seats in Parliament,

the highest in the world.

They have a labor force participation rate of 88%.

Rwanda is one of the few countries

where a woman is just as likely as a man to work outside the home.

The Constitution also created the position of gender monitor,

who ensures that public programs are complying

with the country's goals of gender equality.

A young girl in Rwanda doesn't think

that there is anything that she's not allowed to do.

They don't have to grow in a system

where they think there will be a ceiling somewhere.

[McAdams] This cultural shift around gender began

as a survival mechanism after the genocide.

But thanks to aggressive policies,

Rwanda has achieved lasting progress in closing the gap.

The World Economic Forum puts Rwanda's pay gap

at 86 cents on the dollar.

Much further north, the small island nation of Iceland

has also made major strides towards closing the pay gap.

But they took a different path towards equality.

The real turning point came in 1975.

[Crowd chanting song]

The year before I was born,

the women of Iceland actually left their workplaces

and went out in the streets in order to object to the gender pay gap.

Without them in their jobs, businesses could not stay open,

and it started a huge grassroots wave

that, you know, slowly started changing society.

The first result was really

that women became a lot more visible in the political field.

[McAdams] In 1980, five years after the strike,

Iceland voted in the world's first democratically-elected female president.

...Iceland. Hurray! Hurray!

[McAdams] The number of women in the Icelandic Parliament skyrocketed.

Then really, in the years to follow, you see policy changes.

[McAdams] In 1981, Iceland passed a law that required employers

to provide new mothers three months of paid leave.

That was extended to six months in 1988.

Guaranteed maternity leave was a novel idea at the time,

and Iceland's was one of the most generous in the world.

But as progressive as this law was,

it encouraged moms to stay home while new fathers kept working,

reinforcing cultural norms at the heart of the pay gap

that women are caregivers, and men are not.

So lawmakers did something radical.

What if they gave parental leave to dads

and made it a use-it-or-lose-it benefit,

so dads would feel pressure to take it?

Iceland passed that law in the year 2000.

Obligational paternity leave has made a difference

in the culture of men in Iceland,

a very positive difference.

The men of the youngest generations,

they expect to take time off to take care of their children.

Which really makes all the difference,

both at home, but also in the job market,

because now you can actually expect,

if you're hiring a young man or a young woman,

both will take maternity or paternity leave.

[McAdams] In 2004, the pay gap in Iceland was about the same as it was in the US,

but in the years that followed,

Iceland's gender pay gap shrank, to where today,

women in Iceland make about 90 cents on every dollar a man does.

So we know that narrowing the gender wage gap isn't impossible.

But these kind of family-friendly policies might come with tradeoffs

that we don't immediately see.

These are benefits.

Having more of these choices available are great things.

We should not expect them to come for free.

Some women elect to have children. Some don't.

And some men elect to have children. Some don't.

Can I look at the person who elected not to have children

and say, "You gotta pay for it in some way"?

If a mother takes off a lot of time,

what does the small business person do who only has three employees?

I don't want to penalize a mother,

but you don't want to penalize a small business owner.

It's not the same with a giant corporation,

because they have enormously more flexibility

in filling positions, and it doesn't hurt the bottom line.

[McAdams] While it may not be

the biggest reason women are paid less than men,

and it varies significantly across countries and industries,

women still don't get equal pay for equal work.

There is an irreducible percentage that is due to discrimination.

It's just very clear that much of what the workplace favors...

favors men.

I've watched it in many different settings

where, you know, the guy you talk sports with,

the guy you go golfing with,

he's somebody you get more familiar with, and you're comfortable around.

[McAdams] But that kind of discrimination has declined over the decades

as more women entered the workplace, and the culture shifted.

Changing the expectation that women should be the ones to raise children

will require another cultural shift.

And in the view of many who work on this issue,

that shift begins with men.

Until we think of men and women as both caregivers and breadwinners,

we're not gonna get there,

because as long as it's a woman problem...

then we are reinforcing that stereotype that care is her job.

It'll only be less of a burden on women when men feel comfortable saying,

"I'm going to a parent-teacher conference. I'm not leaving it to my wife."

Or, "I really wanna go to the well-baby check-up.

They're getting their vaccinations. I wanna be there."

The wage gap is not just a woman's issue. It's a family issue.

Women have every right to be mothers without being penalized at work.