Changes in the US Gender Gap in Wages in the 1960s
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 111,
May 2021
(pp. 143-48)
Abstract
The 1960s witnessed landmark legislation that aimed to increase women's wages, including the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and the 1966 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Although the gender gap in pay changed little at the mean/median during the decade, our distributional analysis shows that women's wages converged sharply on men's below but diverged above the median. However, the bulk of women's relative pay gains are not explained by changes in observed attributes. Our findings suggest an important role for legislation in narrowing the gender gap in the 1960s.Citation
Bailey, Martha J., Thomas Helgerman, and Bryan A. Stuart. 2021. "Changes in the US Gender Gap in Wages in the 1960s." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 111: 143-48. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20211020Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- J71 Labor Discrimination
- N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- K31 Labor Law
- N42 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: 1913-