Gender gaps in STEM in Japanese academia: The impact of research productivity, outside offers, and home life on pay

• Published in: The Social science journal (Fort Collins) 2018-09, Vol.55 (3), p.245-272
• Main Authors: Takahashi, Ana Maria, Takahashi, Shingo, Maloney, Thomas N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academia; Gender salary gaps; Motherhood wage penalty; Outside job offers
• ISSN: 0362-3319; 1873-5355
• DOI: 10.1016/j.soscij.2018.02.013

•Detailed survey data is used to examine gender pay gaps in STEM fields in Japan.•A pay gap of about 6% persists after productivity adjustments.•The presence of young children does not reduce women's wages.•Outside offers do not impact the gender salary gap. To understand differences in labor market outcomes between genders, economists must examine a complex array of potentially significant factors, such as institutional context, productivity differences, child-bearing and home production, and bargaining behavior. Many of these factors are not well captured by standard data sources. We use a new survey of academics in Japan to better understand the sources of gender pay differences. We find a 6% pay gap which persists when we control for research productivity, despite an institutional context shaped by explicit salary tables. We do not find a motherhood wage penalty, and the gender salary we document is not affected by differences in outside job offers.