Historically, women in the United States earn less, on average, than men, while people of color earn less than White Americans. Thus, one could assume that women of color face a double disadvantage in earnings potential.
However, a new study from scholars at the University of Kansas has found evidence that this double disadvantage is less pronounced among married women of color due to their increased labor participation relative to White women and men of color. According to the authors, this phenomenon suggests progress in closing the gender pay gap could lead to greater overall racial pay disparities for families in the United States.
Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series-American Community Survey from 2015 to 2019, the authors examined the association between women of color’s labor supply at the micro level and race-based earnings inequality among men at the macro level. Upon analyzing their results, the authors found the stronger the power of race in accounting for earnings inequality among men in a local labor market, the weaker double disadvantage there was for married women of color. Furthermore, married women of color were also found to work more consistently and for longer hours than White women.
“Progress in gender equality may boost incomes primarily for White women, thereby widening the family income gap between White families and ethno-racial minority families,” said co-author ChangHwan Kim, professor of sociology at the University of Kansas. “Currently, the ethno-racial gap in family income appears smaller than it otherwise would because women of color tend to work more when men of color earn less. Thus, unless there is an improvement in the earnings of men of color, closing the gender income gap could inadvertently exacerbate the ethno-racial gap in family income.”