GENDER WAGE DIFFERENTIALS AND DISCRIMINATION AMONG ISRAELI MANAGERS

The purpose of this paper is to investigate wage differentials and wag e discrimination among 9,035 male and female Israeli managers. In our sample, female managers earn on average 64 per cent of their male coun terparts. Using a statistical method originally developed by Ronald Oa xaca, we found that out of 36 per cent wage difference, 7.2 per cent w ere ''legitimate'', stemming from differences in human capital charact eristics, while 28.8 per cent were ''illegitimate'', due to wage discr imination, in the form of different rates of return to the various cha racteristics. As wage differentials stem mainly from discrimination, a ffirmative action and comparable worth can serve as a partial remedy.