Three things that can be done to close the gender pay gap

The US ranks ranked 43rd in gender equality, based on the most recent World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index.

One of the biggest issues is the gender wage gap. Rutgers University Economist and Professor of Labor Studies and Human Relations Yana Rodgers says the "most persistent cause" of the wage gap is the motherhood penalty, where women tend to choose more flexible but lower-paying jobs in order to care for their children.

Watch the video above to hear Rodgers list of three things that could help close the gender pay gap.

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This post was written by John Lesinski.

Video Transcript

The US continues to lag behind other countries in closing the gender gap, America currently ranked 43rd in gender equality out of 146 countries according to the World Economic Forum, also known as we f. So how long will it take to close the gender wage gap once and for all?

And what steps are needed to make this happen here to weigh in.

Let's bring in Jana Rogers Rutgers, university economist and professor of Labor studies and employment relations.

So we're, we're gonna get to the, the how long of it.

But what are the elements that need to be put into place in order for us to be taking the right steps along that pathway as well?

Jana?

Hi, Brad, nice to be here today.

And um the main cause of that really persistent gender wage gap is the motherhood penalty where we are seeing women clustering into jobs that are more flexible or they're part time but they pay less.

So I think three of the main things that need to change.

First and foremost is that we need to look at what's happening in the home and the distribution of care and we need a more equitable distribution of that care and, and that mommy stigma in the labor market.

Uh We also need to invest more in the care infrastructure.

We're hearing a lot about infrastructure but that also applies to care, things like more affordable and high quality daycare as well as pay parental leave.

The US is one of the only countries in the world that still does not have a federal law on paid parental leave.

And also speaking of infrastructure, we need more women in well paying um infrastructure jobs and other nontraditional jobs where women have not been represented um like jobs in the trades they pay well and there's not enough women there.