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Published Letters: 1
I was struck when I first read the article that the authors appeared to assume that gender role attitudes caused the pay differences, rather directly or indirectly. However, it seems quite plausible to me that there is a bidirectional relationship. Perhaps men’s and women’s attitudes are affected by their pay. Men and women who make less may downplay the importance of the “provider” role and increase the importance of caregiving. Thus, lower paid men are more egalitarian and lower paid women are more traditional. My guess would be that there is a feedback loop between pay and attitudes. (i.e. Men who start out as more traditional make more, reinforcing their traditional attitudes while men who start out as more egalitarian make less, reinforcing their more egalitarian attitudes.) And, I suspect that discrimination is a factor. Men who are more egalitarian may face discrimination in the workplace because they take on family responsibilities. I've certainly seen examples where it's considered acceptable for a man to take a day off to go golfing or hunting while a man who leaves early to take a child to the doctor is considered less committed to work.
