Efforts to close the gender pay gap have been slow and inconsistent. In 2024, wage inequality actually widened for the second year in a row. Women earned just 81 cents for every dollar paid to men, down from 83 cents in 2023 and 84 cents in 2022.
New data shows the gender pay gap more than doubles over the course of a woman’s career, according to a Glassdoor report released Tuesday.
The report found that women’s earnings stall in their mid-30s, while men’s earnings continue to increase until their 40s.
Here’s why the pay gap continues to widen later in women’s careers and what employers can do to support women in the workplace.
How inequality widens over time
Glassdoor used its repository of salary data to calculate both the total pay gap between men and women over a 30-year career, as well as the “within-role” gap (when women are paid less than men for similar positions). This report does not differentiate results based on race or ethnicity. The pay gap is typically even greater for Black and Latina women.
The report found that over the first 10 years of a career, the overall gender pay gap between women and men widens from 12% to 19%, and the within-role gap widens from 0% to 4%.
Chris Martin, a senior economist at Glassdoor, said the initial 12% difference was due to “across-role” differences, with men and women “choosing different jobs at different companies in different locations,” which affects starting salaries.
Women-dominated industries tend to have lower wages than male-dominated industries, and research shows that when women are in large numbers in an occupation, wages in that occupation decline.
Martin said that in the second stage of a woman’s career (10 to 30 years of experience), the overall pay gap widens dramatically, but the within-role gap stabilizes at 5%.
According to the report, women’s wage growth generally reaches a plateau at age 35, while men’s earnings continue to increase through their 40s. As a result, over a 30-year career, men earn 25% more than women.
Why do women’s wages stagnate at age 35?
Martin said there are several reasons for this widening wage gap. One is the penalty for being a mother. Women are often expected to take on a disproportionate share of childcare responsibilities, which can limit “the amount of time and energy they can devote to their careers,” Martin said.
But even childless women experience a decline in their earnings in their mid-30s, Martin said, and by the time they reach their 50s, they still earn significantly less than men.
During this mid-career period, Martin says, men are more likely to be promoted to higher-paying jobs, while women are promoted at a lower rate. Because of gender bias, many organizations “put a ceiling on how far women can advance” before hitting a “glass ceiling,” she said.
Overall, women are not promoted to supervisory roles at the same rate as men, said Jasmine Tucker, associate director of research at the National Women’s Law Center. Last year, just 93 women for every 100 men were promoted to manager-level positions, according to Lean In and McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace 2025 report.
The report found that women continue to be underrepresented at all levels, especially at the top. For example, women held 29% of executive roles. Also, only 11% of companies on the 2025 Fortune 500 list will be led by female CEOs, the highest ever.
A 2022 study found that even when women receive higher performance reviews than men, they are still perceived as less likely to be promoted.
Mr. Tucker said men continue to hold the majority of executive-level positions, and “when they promote and hire, they tend to hire people who look like themselves.”
How can companies address wage inequality?
The first step all organizations can take to reduce the gender pay gap is to “conduct an aggressive pay equity analysis,” Martin says. In other words, cases in which women are paid less than men need to be “identified and addressed.”
Managers and leaders also need to analyze “whether men and women or different groups are promoted at the same rate within the organization,” he says.
In addition, companies should offer additional support, such as flexible work options, to employees with caregiving responsibilities, Martin says. Without the right support, “[caregivers]will have less promotion in the workplace and less success because they have needs that are not being met or addressed by the organization,” he says.
Tucker says more can be done through state and federal policy. To address issues such as motherhood penalties, Tucker emphasizes that systemic solutions such as universal childcare and paid family leave are key to leveling the playing field for women.
At the moment, “we don’t have the systems in place to allow women to thrive in the workplace,” she says.
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