Winner of the European teaching award
Professor Astrid Kunze has won the EEA Award for Exceptional Teaching. ‘It shows that courses about diversity and inclusion are acknowledged and recognised even in the economic sciences,’ says Kunze.
Five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap
‘Firms and universities must take diversity and inclusion seriously. Many already do, but there is still room for progress,’ says NHH Professor Astrid Kunze to Authority Magazine.
Recently, NHH Professor Astrid Kunze was featured in an article in Authority Magazine. Read a summary of the interview here.
READ THE INTERVIEW (Authority Magazine)
Research on female earners
One of the main goals of Kunze's research is to understand the causes behind the gender pay gap, and which policies can effectively reduce it.
‘In several studies, I have analysed data on the complete employment and wage histories of women in Germany and Norway. These studies suggest that even though when men and women first enter the labour market, gender wage gaps are small, it begins to widen early on,’ she says.
Women return to work on lower wages
One of the studies Kunze and her research fellows conducted in Germany, revealed that right before the birth of a first child, women’s wages experience a dip which might show they already start forgoing promotions.
‘After giving birth, we found women return to work on lower wages,’ says the NHH Professor.
Kunze has also studied career progression and hierarchies in firms, and whether women receiving promotions into managerial and leadership positions could help close the gender gap. Her research shows that a gender promotion gap exists at all levels of the corporate ladder.
‘This can be improved by increasing the proportion of female bosses across all levels of management, as we find it reduces the gender gap in promotions. This suggests that organisations may be able to encourage women into the career pipeline by maintaining a good gender balance in management.’
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Astrid Kunze
- Professor at Department of Economics, NHH Norwegian School of Economics.
- She has conducted research on how public policies affect women’s labour market performance.
- Kunze is a contributor to the Handbook on Women and the Economy, published with Oxford University Press in 2018.
- In 2020, she received a 6-year grant from the Norwegian Research Council for her project on ‘challenges to shaping an inclusive work-life in rapidly changing labour markets.’
‘Need to talk about developing anti-discrimination laws’
Here are Professor Kunze’s top five tips on how to close the gender wage gap:
- The policy aspect: We need to talk about developing anti-discrimination laws and parental leave policies that protect women against unequal pay and offer wage-related financial benefits. As a side note, this should also be extended to cover workers from minority communities.
- Career planning: Many parents make use of parental leave policies, but there is not enough discussion or serious planning that goes on between them and their employers about what happens afterwards. Children have significant care needs long after parental leave is over, so careers must be planned with children in mind. I think the EU directive on wage transparency points us in the right direction.
- Showing young people their options: Firms and universities should go into schools far more frequently and explain to pupils what occupations and careers are available to them.
- Listening to young people: Communicating with young people fresh into the workforce must be a two-way street. Those with more influence and experience should offer motivation and advice, while also keeping a keen ear out for ways that systems and hierarchies can be improved.
- Education: Firms and universities must take diversity and inclusion seriously. Many already do, but there is still room for progress. For instance, economists are often consulted for advice when it comes to investing and purchasing stocks. This same level of expertise exists in the field of diversity, inclusion, and equality. Universities need to do more to produce and disseminate this information, and corporations should be more active in consulting experts.
Also read:
Do Generous Parental Leave Policies Help Top Female Earners?
Generous government-mandated parental leave is generally viewed as an effective policy to support women’s careers around childbirth. But does it help women to reach top positions in the upper pay echelon of their firms?