Log in

Why Do Women Today Earn More Than Their Mothers, But Still Less Than Their Brothers? A Gendered Organization Perspective

  • Published:
Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Employees’ perceived fairness of their pay is critical for their satisfaction, commitment and job engagement. Women comprise nearly 50 per cent of the modern workforce;  therefore, their satisfaction with their pay is crucial for organizations. However, statistics show that the gender pay gap is still persistent all around the world, and has even widened post the Covid-19 pandemic. To move ahead, taking a few steps backwards sometimes becomes imperative. This paper is a step** stone in that direction as it argues that the widening of the ‘gender pay gap’ is deeply rooted in the institutionalization of ‘gendered notions’ in organizations. To efficiently tackle gender-related power imbalance in organizations, it is important to understand how a ‘gendered organization’ came into being and its effects cascaded over the decades. Moreover, this area of research has numerous scholarly contributions that span more than a hundred years. This wide gamut of research not only intimidates new scholars but also makes it extremely difficult for them to extract relevant information. To bridge this gap, the main objective of this study is to present a crisp review on the evolution and institutionalization of ‘Gendered Organizations’ and discuss their impact on gender-related issues, particularly, the ‘Gender Pay Gap’. Drawing on Institutional, Human Capital and Feminist Theories, this paper sheds light on the seminal work by gender scholars and illustrates how gender pay gap is a consequence of institutionalized gendered norms and occupational sex segregation. This review enhances the comprehensive contemplation of gender-related issues in organizations and encourages practitioners to devise concrete means to battle its social impact.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kadumbri Kriti Randev.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Randev, K.K. Why Do Women Today Earn More Than Their Mothers, But Still Less Than Their Brothers? A Gendered Organization Perspective. Employ Respons Rights J 36, 251–264 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-023-09476-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-023-09476-z

Keywords

Navigation