Pay Equity and Gender Norms: Do Men Get a Marriage Premium?

Abstract

Although the gender wage gap has narrowed somewhat in Switzerland, as in Germany, over the past two decades, the gap is still substantial and can only be partly explained by productivity-related factors. To investigate whether a corresponding gender wage gap is also reflected in what wages are considered fair, we conducted three randomized vignette experiments in Swiss population surveys. Unlike most other such experiments, each respondent was presented only one vignette to reduce social desirability bias. The first experiment provides evidence of a double standard in income evaluation: A given income was judged more likely to be too low for men than for women. However, the finding could not be replicated in a second experiment with a similar design. Because a key difference between the two experiments was the household context described in the vignettes, we systematically examined the influence of the family situation in a third experiment. The results show that a difference between women and men is made only for married individuals and not for singles. Consistent with the stereotype of the male breadwinner, a pronounced effect of a “marriage premium” for men emerges. Married men are perceived to be entitled to higher wages than married women, other things being equal.