ABSTRACT
I argued in the previous chapter that occupational gender segregation is not always the best barometer of gender wage inequality and that we should therefore focus more directly on wages and wage inequality. In this chapter I take the discussion of gender wage inequality yet another controversial step further and argue that the overwhelming focus on the average gender wage gap is inadequate and frequently misleading. In order to show this, I return to the college/noncollege divide that emerged as a prominent feature of configurations of inequality in earlier chapters and ask whether the distinction between the college-and non-college-educated is relevant for only a few cities or is more pervasive and systematic. This chapter focuses squarely on this question in considering whether restructuring varies in its implications for the wage gap between men and women of different class backgrounds. The basic issue is whether gender inequality is unevenly distributed among different groups of workers, so that the average gender wage gap masks low levels of gender inequality among some groups and high levels among other groups. If so, I make explicit which groups of women stand to improve their relative positions vis-à-vis men and which do not in any given labor market environment.
