Women with doctorates suffer from 'sticky floors' and 'glass ceilings'

Social Affairs

Published: 26 Dec. 2023, 18:12

Women with doctorates suffer from 'sticky floors' and 'glass ceilings'

A graduation mortarboard with money [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Women with doctorate degrees are paid less than men with equivalent degrees, according to government-funded research on Tuesday.

The gender gap was the most apparent at the lower and upper ends of the pay scale.

The Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training conducted statistical research from August to November this year using the raw data of more than 3,900 doctorate holders provided by the Science and Technology Policy Institute in 2012 and 2017.

The institute said the gender wage gap is relatively less evident among median earners with doctorate degrees.

The research found that the sticky floor and glass ceiling affect women with doctorate degrees.

The sticky floor refers to the phenomenon where women are kept in low-paying jobs.

The institute stratified the wages of 3,958 doctorate holders — 3,600 men and 358 women — into nine brackets.

The log-scaled value of the gender pay gap between top earners was 0.286, and that of the lowest earning group was 0.311.

The seventh highest earning group from all nice income brackets had the lowest value, 0.162.

The higher the figure is, the wider the pay gap becomes.

In other words, the discrepancy is evident in the lowermost and top brackets.

In addition, the scaled values across all brackets are positive numbers, meaning men with doctorates earn more than women with doctorates in all wage groups.

The research team added that the gender wage gap is arising from inexplicable attributes, including gender discrimination.

Researchers observed a “clear sticky floor,” dragging down women with doctorates at the lowest-paying jobs. Also, they assumed that the glass ceiling obstructs women’s growth among all the highest-earning doctorates.

Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The research team also compared wage disparities according to employment type.

In the study, 3,757 doctorate holders were permanent full-time workers, and 237 worked part-time.

The study found that full-time regular workers are paid more than part-time or contract employees.

The researchers attribute the gap to the unequal treatment that part-timers experience.

The discrepancy between full-time and part-time employees narrowed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or the so-called STEM field.

“The part-timers or contract-job doctorate holders in STEM field are less disadvantaged than doctorate holders in the liberal arts and other sectors,” the research team said.

“Other than the well-known glass ceiling, there is a sticky floor that works against women with doctorates in low-paying jobs,” said Kim Myung-hwan, a researcher from the institute.

“This disadvantageous situation has been left out of the spotlight in the Korean labor market,” Kim added, emphasizing the need for policies and support to alleviate the gender pay gap among highly educated professionals.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, CHANG YOON-SEO [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]