Empirical studies have examined whether the wage gap between female-dominated and male-dominated occupations is based on differences in the occupations with respect to required skills or work environments. Treiman and colleagues (1984), in an assessment of the effects of differences in the characteristics of male and female occupations on wages, found that “about 40 percent of the earnings gap between male- and female-dominated occupations can be attributed to differences in job whatsapp group philippines characteristics and 60 percent to differences in the rate of return to these characteristics.” That is, she found that the premium paid for skills in male-dominated occupations was higher than that paid for the same skills in female-dominated occupations. Other research has confirmed findings that specific skills (such as dealing with the public) or qualifications (such as having a high school diploma) increase wages more in a male-dominated occupation than in a female-dominated occupation (McLaughlin, 1978; Beck & Kemp, 1986). Other possible explanations for wage differences between male-dominated and female-dominated occupations, such as that female-dominated occupations have greater nonmonetary compensations (such as vacation, sick leave, flexible work hours) (Jencks, Perman, & Rainwater, 1988) or are more conducive to intermittent careers (England, 1982), have not been supported by empirical studies.
J. S. Mill's conclusion in 1865, quoted by Edgeworth in 1922: "The remuneration of the peculiar employments of women is always, I believe, very much inferior to that of employments of equal ability and equal dislike performed by men." - is similar to the conclusion reached by the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences committee report in 1981: