Wage Gap Woes

Recently, I experienced a new first. I find myself unemployed at age 45. I have been working since age 18 in 1998, so this is an odd and unsettling feeling. I spend my days drafting cover letters, answering online questionnaires, and carefully typing the same information into seemingly endless online form fields. When I have had enough job hunting for the day, my mind wanders down various cultural, political, and philosophical rabbit holes.

Naturally, money and spending are front of mind for my husband and me as we navigate raising our two children and running an efficient household on one salary. Our current situation has led me down the pay gap rabbit hole. The gap in pay between working men and women has been an issue for decades and certainly as far back as I can remember. As I scroll through job boards, I can’t help but think about whether we can live on the lower end of the advertised wages. And inevitably, the issue of the gender wage gap creeps in as I think about whether the jobs I apply for would pay more for a male in the role than me, a female.

The gender wage gap currently is 84%, meaning women make women earn 16% less in salary than men. While 84% may not sound too bad to some, there is still a significant gap when you dig into the details. For instance, where I live, the median income is about $55 thousand annually (far too low for the cost of living in the area, but I’ll save that for another day.)

So, let’s put this into perspective. Let’s assume I bring in an $84,000 salary and my husband $100,000. Raising my salary to $100,000 closes the gap and solves the problem in this scenario. Right? Ostensibly, yes, but the proverbial devil is in the details.

To truly solve the wage gap, we must examine the costs associated with each gender. Social norms for men and women differ vastly in our society. Men are only expected to present themselves in standard business casual attire and bathe regularly. The bare minimum of grooming and hygiene rituals are all men need to accomplish to be accepted as “normal.”

Conversely, women must conform to a higher standard of “normal” in a business setting. As much as we have progressed in the 20th and 21st centuries, there are still many social norms women must attend to that men do not. Our hair must be styled every day (for the most part). Styling includes shampoo and conditioner tailored to each woman’s specific hair type (dry, oily, color-treated, curly, straight, frizzy, etc.). Most women I know need to apply several styling products and blow dry their hair because going into the office with wet hair is not appropriate, generally speaking. Using myself as an example, I have shampoo, conditioner, heat protectant serum, frizz serum, curl cream, curl gel, dry shampoo, and scalp oil. Whereas my husband only requires shampoo.

Further, women are expected to make their faces look as nice as possible, which can only be accomplished for most with a specific skincare regimen along with a makeup routine. Maintaining a skincare routine requires face wash, toner, moisturizer, and lip treatment balm. Plus, many women, myself included, use masks, laser treatments, and contour tools to keep the skin firm and clear of blemishes. Most men I know wash their faces with whatever they use to cleanse their bodies.

Moving along, makeup is a significant part of women’s daily routine. At a minimum, most women will use primer, concealer, foundation, eyeliner, and mascara. Many also apply eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick/balm. Let’s look at hygiene norms by the numbers.

Number of products for women versus men.

To summarize the above chart, women use about 18 products to maintain hygiene, while men only need two.

So, what is the differential cost of the 18:2 hygiene product? The answer is that hygiene costs women much more than men. Below is an audit I completed for my husband and me.

Just based on my household, my hygiene is 110% more costly than my husband’s. That is a rather considerable difference. These raw costs are not broken down to a per-month dollar amount, but let’s assume these items are purchased semi-monthly for this exercise.

Using my example of an $84,000 salary, $3,762 would be spent on hygiene products. The man making $100,000 would spend $372 on hygiene. Strictly based on salary, the gap is $16,000. When we incorporate hygiene costs, the gap changes to nearly $20,000.

Now imagine the original 84% wage gap is closed; my husband and I make $100,000. Factoring in hygiene costs would bring my salary down to about $96,000, whereas my husband’s would be barely under the original $100,000, which is still a 4% gap between earnings.

Many people will point out that these costs can be cut down significantly. I could buy cheaper products, but it still wouldn’t close the hygiene cost gap. Some may think women should just do the same thing as men; then, hygiene costs would be equal. That is easier said than done. First, women’s products generally have a higher markup than men’s.

Most importantly, a woman’s looks are still paramount in the job market. We are judged more on looks during interviews and around the workplace than men. Women and men both are guilty of these judgments. I know I have judged women at work by their dress and makeup without even thinking about what I’m doing. These judgments are almost an innate function for me, and I am not alone. Many other men and women make the same judgments without another thought. I don’t fault anyone for making these judgments, as it is simply the world we live in. It’s how we expect things to be culturally. We are comfortable with the societal norms as they are. I personally can’t imagine going to the office without makeup and natural hair. I would look sick and sad, which is not the vibe I want to give off. I have to believe many other women feel the same way. Ergo, these appearance norms are here to stay.

So, what does all this mean? To genuinely close the wage gap, women need to be paid more than men in order to be on the same financial level.

NOTE: This analysis does not include Shaving products and deodorant because both men and women need those products. Also not included are professional hair color and waxing treatments, which many women, including me, engage in regularly.