ABSTRACT
In modern liberal democracies, people no longer sanction open and explicit discrimination against women. This chapter explores some initially appealing ways of understanding persistent gender inequality in labor markets as a problem of discrimination. In many ways, gender inequality in labor markets is a paradigmatic case of discrimination. Statistical discrimination occurs when 'there is statistical evidence which suggests that a certain group of people differs from other groups in a certain dimension, and its members are being treated disadvantageously on the basis of this information'. Plausibly, some portion of existing inequality in labor market outcomes is due to mechanisms of statistical discrimination. Women (and men) are worse off in many domains by virtue of making gender-norm-compliant labor allocation choices. The chapter explores some of the challenges for thinking of gender inequality in labor market outcomes as principally a problem of discrimination.
