The determinants of gender pay gap in Portuguese private firms

Abstract

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate the existence of gender segregation and to analyse the determinants of gender income disparity in Portuguese private firms.Design/methodology/approachThe main research instrument is a qualitative and quantitative questionnaire with 3,906 individuals from 75 Portuguese private firms. This paper uses separate multivariate ordered tobit models for men and women.FindingsIt is found that job segregation is one of the major sources of gender inequality in the labour market but does not contribute for a considerable gender pay gap. In fact only scant and nuanced evidence of a negative gap of 2.2 percent against women is found. However, no support for the contention that women are systematically underpaid if they work in occupations where females are predominant is found. When it comes to variable pay, differences between men and women are less significant than with base pay.Practical implicationsThe paper reveals that the under‐representation of women in high‐paying jobs and their over‐representation in low‐paying clerical and service occupations are key in explaining the existence of a glass ceiling. Despite that it appears wage disparity does exist, and that it will probably continue to exist, the results point towards a window of opportunity for women.Originality/valueThe paper shows that with a higher contribution of men in household and childcare activities, women will have more time and opportunity for lobbying activities, which will increase their opportunities for higher career.