Michigan Minds Podcast: How to Close the Gender Pay Gap

Women have made strides in the job market over the decades and today represent roughly half the U.S. workforce. But the gender pay gap remains persistent.

In this episode of the Michigan Minds podcast, U-M professor Cindy Schipani explains why women make, on average, 80 cents for each dollar a man makes.

If companies really wanted to, they could end the wage gap right now, without government intervention. Some already have, providing a blueprint for others to follow.

“Some companies have successfully navigated this….They’ve reached parity in terms of salary between men and women,” says Schipani, Merwin H. Waterman Collegiate Professor of Business Administration and professor of business law. “These companies conducted that pay audit, they looked at salaries, they looked at bonuses, they looked at stock option plans. And where they found discrepancies they fixed it.”

The government could also do things to nudge companies in the right direction, she says.

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