The gender pay gap – an American perspective

Thanks to the folks at Compensation Cafe for their Friday Special link to my post on the gender pay gap. Compensation Cafe, as the name suggests, is a group blog focused on remuneration. What’s the collective noun for a bunch of Comp and Ben specialists?

In a similar vein to my post, one of the contributors, Becky Regan,  discusses some research on the gender pay gap among MBA graduates in the USA.

The survey showed that in early careers and business schools, male and female career paths are very similar.  Men focus on finance and women on marketing as majors in business school but have similar grade point averages, similar jobs and performance ratings following graduation. Childless women had careers that progressed in line with their male counterparts; MBA mom’s careers did not progress at the same level.

Dr. Bertrand said that maternity leave begins the deterioration of the working mother’s career.  “Any departure, for six months or more, is costly.  Male or female, you never re-enter where you were.” The study found that after a decade had passed since earning their MBA, the gap in hours between MBA mothers and the other MBAs equaled about six months’ time.  

A MBA mother’s earnings begins to decline within two years following the birth of the first child with the rate accelerating thereafter.

As Becky says, could it simply be motherhood that is the primary cause of gender pay differences?