Rejecting Work Inequality: Women Say “No” to Unequal Workloads or Unequal Earnings?

Pay inequality can arise from unequal earnings for the same job or an unequal workload for the same earnings. Although existing research focuses on aversion to unequal earnings, little is known about aversion to unequal workloads, particularly gender differences. We show that female workers are more willing to accept unequal workload than unequal earnings allocations. By contrast, male workers exhibit similar responses to the workload and earnings inequality. The findings highlight that women’s lower aversion to unequal workloads can contribute to the gender earnings gap. Promoting equal workload allocation can be crucial in addressing the gender gap in the labor market.

This paper was accepted by Marie Claire Villeval, behavioral economics and decision analysis.

Funding: This research was supported by research grants from Bryant University and the Department of Economics at Monash University.

Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2024.07896.