Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

More women should major in business or engineering to close pay gap: Study

A new study suggests that having more women getting degrees from Stanford or Harvard matters far less than having more women getting degrees in engineering or business.

If young women want to close the gender pay gap, they should pay more attention to their major than their university. A new study suggests that having more women getting degrees from Stanford or Harvard matters far less than having more women getting degrees in engineering or business. Gokhan Savas, co-author of the study and an assistant professor at Luther College in Iowa, speculates that it’s probably* about the enduring power of old boy networks.

“Male students who go to those elite institutions, but major in literature or history or social sciences or art, they are still able to get fancy jobs in Wall Street,” Savas says.

Women? No such luck.

Click the player above to hear more, and see the study’s abstract here


CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misrepresented Gokhan Savas’ statement about “old boys clubs.” The text has been corrected.

Related Topics

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • Marketplace Tech
    an hour ago
    11:03
  • Marketplace
    12 hours ago
    25:19
  • Make Me Smart
    18 hours ago
    19:00
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    21 hours ago
    6:55
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    3 days ago
    56:05
  • Million Bazillion
    24 days ago
    32:45