ABSTRACT
Surveys of recent trends and historical patterns of income distribution reveal that women on average still earn less than men. From 1955 to 1990 the earnings of women working full time increased only a few percentage points, as income rose from 64 to 67 percent of male wages. Researchers addressing the persistence of this income gap disagree about the status of gender as a variable in income determination models. Traditional economic-based explanations view any difference between men's and women's income as a consequence of gender-neutral mechanisms (Becker 1975; Gordon et al. 1982; Wright 1979). Feminists posit an alternative that considers gender's effect on income independent of and in interaction with other variables (Coverman 1983; Hartmann 1981; Kessler-Harris 1990).
