Gender pay disparity in the tech sector?

March 2, 2012 8:25 AM

Looking for current sources about the pay disparity between men and women in the tech world - but specifically overall numbers including everyone from content producers to programmers.

At every large-ish company I've worked at in the tech industry, it's been like a toy store. Men are on one side (coding), women on the other side (design/content production).

When researching salaries between men and women in tech, it generally goes something like "male project managers make 5% more than female project managers." That doesn't acknowledge the gender difference in who typically has what job, though - I'm more interested in the average salary of a woman at Large Tech Company vs. the average salary for a man.

Gender breakdowns of different tech jobs scores bonus points!

posted by soma lkzx to work & money (4 answers total)

There are so many other possible control factors besides gender, it is hard to point to any bullet-proof numerical study that "proves" anything conclusively.
In addition to gravitating to different specialties that you describe above, consider these factors:

1. how long staying at one employer affects your raises and/or promotions (most people get bigger raises and more significant promotions by changing jobs.)

2. geographical location

3. education
posted by markhu at 9:46 AM on March 2, 2012

missing link intended for my previous reply: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/education-not-gender-or-race-largest-factor-earnings_n_958602.html
posted by markhu at 10:00 AM on March 2, 2012

(I don't think it will have recent data, but I believe the book "Why Men Earn More" is an entire book about many factors that influence pay, and you might still find it helpful or interesting.)
posted by zeek321 at 10:32 AM on March 2, 2012

Bureau of Labor Statistics has an annual report on the "highlights of women's earnings" [PDF] if earning less than men is indeed a highlight. The table you want has computer occupations on page 12. This is across all industries; so it's all programmers regardless of who they work for -- many work for tech, but many work for banks and engineering firms and so on. This chart provides a breakdown by industry, but the "information" sector is pretty big; not only software and internet, but also telecom, music, movies, TV, publishing, news and libraries.

It's not (in my opinion) particularly informative per se, but there it is.

For instance, (in addition to the factors you and markhu mention), while the number of women increase in computer science / electrical engineering programs (and others), the average experience of women in the workforce decreases. At my old job (civil engineering, but close enough), the 60 workers at my level (primarily late 90s / early 00s graduates) were maybe 1/3 women with a salary of ~80K. At the supervisor level (mostly late 70s/early 80s graduates), there was only one woman of 20 (she was one of two women in a 150 person class), and the salaries were ~200K.

For what it's worth, whenever I've done more detailed analysis, there is still a gender gap. But casual figures can misrepresent it.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 6:20 PM on March 2, 2012