Can Regional Gender Ideologies Account for Variation of Gender Pay Gaps? The Case of Germany

Abstract

While research often invokes gender disparities in wage-determining characteristics to explain gender pay gaps, why these gender disparities and gender pay gaps vary across contexts has received less attention. Therefore, I analyze how subnational gender ideologies predict gender pay gaps in two ways: as directly affecting gender pay gaps and as indirectly predicting gender pay gaps through intermediate gender disparities in determinants of wage. The analyses are based on German survey data (SOEP 2014–2018) supplemented with regional-level statistics. First, I leverage regional differences in predictors of gender ideologies to estimate region-specific gender ideologies. Mapping these gender ideologies across Germany reveals substantial regional variation. Second, multi-level models provide region-specific gender disparities in wage determinants and gender pay gaps. Results reveal that traditional gender ideologies are associated with women gaining less labor market experience and working less often in full-time jobs or supervising positions. In addition to this indirect association, gender ideologies directly predict the extent of adjusted gender pay gaps. These associations contribute novel evidence on regional variation of gender ideologies and how they can underlie explanations often invoked for gender pay gaps.