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Forget the gender gap in wages. The real gap is between traditional men and everyone else.

This study indicates that focus on the gender gap in wages is wrong:

If you divide workers into four groups -- men with traditional attitudes, men with egalitarian attitudes, women with traditional attitudes and women with egalitarian attitudes -- men with traditional attitudes earn far more for the same work than those in any of the other groups. There are small disparities among the three disadvantaged groups, but the bulk of the income inequality is between the first group and the rest.

"When we think of the gender wage gap, most of our focus goes to the women side of things," said Beth A. Livingston, co-author of the study. "This article says a lot of the difference may be in men's salaries."

Livingston said she was taken aback by the results.

"We actually thought maybe men with traditional attitudes work in more complex jobs that pay more or select higher-paying occupations," she said. "Regardless of the jobs people chose, or how long they worked at them, there was still a significant effect of gender role attitudes on income."

I'm taken aback by these results. Not really. Assuming the results are accurate, it could be either that a particular type of man has traditional values or that the traditional lifestyle gives a man more opportunity and incentive to compete, put in long hours, and make money a priority.

Full post as published by Althouse on September 22, 2008 (boomark / email).