Aparência física, gênero e discriminação salarial no Brasil

Abstract

Gender wage gap in the labor market is often discussed by experts who seek to understand its causes and find ways to reduce their disparities, being present on the agendas of many social movements and public policies favorable to women. The variables which compose the wage income are diverse and some of them difficult to measure accurately. This work aims at investigating the components of the salary, noting how the characteristics of the individual and variables related to productivity impact the income. From a brief literature review through the causes of the pay gap and theories of discrimination, we built two econometric models using parameters usually found in studies of discrimination, addressing in more detail on individual satisfaction effect with their own physical appearance, variable not too explored in this type of study. After controlling all the factors, we find how much of this wage gap between men and women is caused by gender discrimination in the labor market. The data were taken from a survey conducted by the Social Information Consortium of the University of São Paulo in 2010. The results corroborated other studies on the subject and showed the existence of a wage premium when individuals are totally satisfied with their physical appearance and this award is greater for women than for men.