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wage gaps
TEXT BY ELLEN LUPTON
According to AIGA’s 2019 Design Census, graphic designers identifying as women earned 80 cents for every dollar paid to men. This ratio
was similar to overall US employment data. The 2019 Design Census showed that women were more likely than male designers to earn less than $25,000 a year and less likely than men to earn $150,000 or more. The 2019 census also found a pay gap between LGBTQIA+ designers (most of whom earn $35,000–$49,000 a year) and non-LGBTQIA+ designers (who typically make $50,000–$74,000). The survey did not track salary differences by race.
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How are wage gaps measured? Studies of employment in the US find that men and women working in the same jobs tend to earn similar pay. Thus, two junior design- ers or two account managers employed at the same company will likely receive similar salaries. However, if the company employs more men than women in its higher-paid positions (such as creative director) while employing more women in lower-paying positions (such as junior de- signer, social media manager, or adminis- trative assistant), then a pay gap will exist at that company. In 2019, calculating such differences across all full-time occupa- tions in the US shows women earning 82.3 cents for every dollar earned by men.
Income gaps divide women in the US who identify as White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic or Latina. Asian women have the highest median income, while Hispanic women have the lowest median income. These differences can be attributed to racial discrimination, educational attain- ment, and immigration status.
When we compare the pay of men
and women in identical jobs with identi- cal amounts of experience, the pay gap seems to diminish. However, pulling back to look at broader patterns—from who gets hired and promoted to how many hours people work—reveals an even
bigger gap: 49 cents to the dollar. How is this possible? Because women are less likely than men to get promoted, men out- pace women in earnings as their careers mature. Women are more likely to leave the workforce for extended periods to care for children or other family members, espe- cially during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Such parents return to work with fewer years of experience and holes in their résumés. A study found that women who left the workforce for a single year during a fifteen-year period had earnings 39 percent lower than women who were continuously employed.
Because women are more likely to work in low-paying, minimum-wage, and/or part-time jobs, their earnings as a group are lower than those of men. Part-time jobs often lack health insurance, retirement benefits, or paid vacations and sick leave.
Some women stay home with children or elderly parents or take lower-paying
or part-time positions by choice. The interplay between choice and opportunity is ambiguous, however. If it’s easier to find employment as a temporary worker, a per- son might tend to move in that direction.
A mix of individual choice and structural opportunity—as well as the feminization of unpaid care work—can guide people along a path of lower earnings.