Friday, October 17, 2008

Transgender Study Shows Pay Disparity Between Sexes

By the DiversityInc staff

October 17, 2008

Keywords: discrimination, sexual discrimination, LGBT, transgender, equal pay

A new study on transgender employees suggests the same employee gets higher pay as a man than as a woman, according to 365 Gay. The study looked at pay disparities by examining the salaries of 64 transgender workers before and after they changed gender through hormone therapy or surgery.

The study, published in an academic journal called The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, found that average earnings increased slightly for women who transitioned to men, but fell by nearly a third for men who transitioned to women.

"I think the gap that we've found has to do with ideas about gender and how masculinity is valued in the workplace," says Kristen Schilt, a sociology professor at the University of Chicago, who conducted the study with New York University professor Matthew Wiswall.

Transgenders used to measure glass ceiling


(Berkley, California) A recent study has found a new way to examine pay disparities between men and women: Comparing the salaries of transgender employees before and after their gender changes.

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The study in The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, an academic journal published by The Berkeley Electronic Press, found that while the average earnings for biological females who transitioned to male slightly increased after the transition, it fell by nearly a third for workers who went from male to female.

The research was based on interviews with 64 individuals employed before and after a gender transition with hormone therapy or surgery.

“I think the gap that we’ve found has to do with ideas about gender and how masculinity is valued in the workplace,” said Kristen Schilt, a sociology professor at University of Chicago who conducted the study with New York University professor Matthew Wiswall.

Schilt, who is currently expanding the research into a book slated for release in 2010, also did an analysis of U.S. legal cases involving transgender discrimination. Nine out of 10 cases involved biological males who transitioned to female, she said.



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