Despite recent progress, gender pay gaps between men and women remain a persistent feature of modern labour markets, being observed even amongst highly skilled population groups—such as university graduates. These gaps are the product of multiple interrelated factors—including discrimination, imbalanced family responsibilities, educational and labour-market segmentation, yet some of these factors have been examined more than others. Fields of study and their feminisation remain under-researched contributors.
Our results offer evidence of a substantial graduate gender pay gap in Australia, amounting to ∼17% of annual average salaries among men. While standard socio-demographic factors fail to explain this gap, gendered differences in fields of study account for ∼15% of it. Importantly, the magnitude of the graduate gender pay gap differs markedly by field of study (from ∼2% to ∼24% of average pay), being largest amongst graduates from gender-balanced fields.
Our findings underscore the importance of considering fields of study in future scholarly research aimed at understanding gender pay disparities. Concerning education equity policy, they indicate that equity interventions aimed at countering the gendered nature of university field-of-study choices amongst high-school cohorts could help reduce the gap. However, policies that merely encourage young women to enter male-typed high-paying fields are not enough: while the gender-integration of these fields may be a desirable outcome in its own right, our results suggest it may not eradicate graduate gender pay gaps.