Progress to close the gender pay gap has been slow and inconsistent. In 2024, the pay gap actually widened for the second year in a row: Women made just 81 cents for every $1 paid to a man, down from 83 cents in 2023 and 84 cents in 2022.
New data shows that the gender pay gap more than doubles over the course of a woman’s career, according to a Glassdoor report published on Tuesday.
The report found that women’s earnings stall in their mid-30s, while men’s continue to grow through their 40s.
Here’s why the wage gap continues to grow later in women’s careers — and what employers can do to support women in the workplace.
Glassdoor used its repository of salary data to calculate both the total pay gap between men and women and the “within-role” gap — when women are paid less than their male counterparts in similar positions — over the span of a 30-year career. The report did not differentiate results based on race or ethnicity; the pay gap is typically even wider for Black women and Latinas.
