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Not so for lesbians.Ī Canadian study this year titled Gay Pay For Straight Work, found that while gay men with partners earn about 5 per cent less than straight men with partners, lesbian women with partners earn about 8 per cent more than straight women with partners. The sexist expectation that a man will always earn more than a woman in a couple might even preemptively damage a woman’s earning power.
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Yet for many women, marriage and childrearing have massive consequences for their own earning power. Straight men benefit financially from being in a couple – a marriage dividend. (That same Australian study found that gay men are earning a remarkable 20 per cent less than straight men.) The pink pound is a myth, but maybe the sapphic shekel has something going for it. Logic should dictate that lesbians are at a double disadvantage for being both female and gay, and should therefore earn the least of all adult demographics – but they don’t. What the data tells us over and over, is that straight women are at the bottom of the pile when it comes to earning power. Why? And if we find out why, what can straight women learn from gay women’s earning prowess?ĭo lesbians hold the answers to tightening the gender pay gap? As a general rule then, straight men earn the most, followed by gay men, then lesbians, then straight women. More and more studies are cropping up coming at the issue from a variety of angles, but the ability of lesbians to out-earn straight women remains the same. That study also found lesbians work about 20 per cent more hours than straight women. “Sexual Identity, Earnings, and Labour Market Dynamics”, a study published in April that focused on Australian data, found lesbians make at least 33 per cent more than heterosexual women. The data varies widely depending on where the research is done.Ī 2009 study in the US put gay women’s earnings at 6 per cent more that straight women when all other factors were taken into account. Studies are showing that lesbians earn more than straight women. There is nowhere near as much research done on the so-called lesbian wage premium, but an increasing number of studies could provide some insight into how women as a whole might close the gap. People study it, report on it, gather stats on it, but it’s still there. We’re so used to the gender pay gap that it almost feels like an unmovable constant. In Ireland, the gap is widening, up from 13.9 per cent to 14.4 per cent in recent years. The gender pay gap is one of the most blatant and consistent indicators of inequality between men and women.
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When it comes to sexism, it’s hard to argue with data.