GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PAY HISTORIES AND VIEWS ON PAY ENTITLEMENT AMONG UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS

Experimental research with college students has shown that women repor t lower entitlement to pay than men for the same tasks and conditions. Gender differences in past socialization, which have resulted in diff erent social psychological orientations by gender are the commonly off ered explanations for this pattern of results. We examine the possibil ity that gender differences in recent pay experience influence entitle ment views by providing different standards for female and male studen ts' judgments of their entitlements. Through a survey of female and ma le undergraduates in psychology courses labour 95% were Caucasians), w e assessed respondents' incomes and perceptions of deserved income, fo r past and current work, and expectations and entitlements for future wages after graduation. Before controls, women reported deserving sign ificantly less than did men for jobs last summer and for future jobs. Women also had earned less than men from jobs last summer. Few student s were currently working during the school year and there were nor sig nificant gender differences in income fr om current work. After contro ls for level of earnings from the job held last summer there was no lo nger a statistically significant gender difference in perceived entitl ement. The gender gap in pay that is so pervasive among working adults also extends to the experiences of women and men in their college yea rs who have not yet entered full-time, full-year work, and this gap is related to gender differences in perceptions of pay entitlement, Alte rnative interpretations are discussed.