How this calculator works
The headline gender wage gap is an aggregate measure, not a comparison of men and women doing the same job. It takes the median earnings of all women in work and the median earnings of all men, then expresses the difference as a percentage of men's earnings. Median means the middle worker, so a few very high earners do not drag the figure up. A gap of 25 percent means the median woman earns 75 cents for every dollar the median man earns. The parity mode reverses the arithmetic: if a published gap is g and your salary is the female median, the male median for the same population is your salary divided by one minus g. That is not the same as the pay for the same job, because the aggregate gap also reflects differences in hours, occupations, industries and career breaks.
Formula
gap = (men's median - women's median) / men's median. ratio = women's median / men's median. cents per dollar = ratio x 100. To reverse a known gap: male median = salary / (1 - gap).
Worked example
If women's median earnings are $45,000 and men's are $60,000, the gap is ($60,000 - $45,000) / $60,000 = 25 percent. Women earn 75 cents for every dollar men earn, and the difference is $15,000 a year. If a country reports a 13 percent gap and a woman earns $45,000, the male median for the same population is $45,000 / 0.87 = $51,724.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the gender wage gap the same as unequal pay for the same job?
No. Equal pay for equal work is a legal requirement in Canada and many other countries, and gaps between people doing the same job with the same experience are usually smaller than the headline figure. The aggregate gap also includes differences in the occupations and hours that men and women typically work, which is why economists report both adjusted and unadjusted gaps.
Should I use hourly, weekly or annual earnings?
Use the same basis for both groups. Hourly earnings remove some of the effect of different working hours and are the basis for the OECD and Eurostat headline figures. Annual earnings include overtime, bonuses and part-time work, so they usually show a larger gap.
Why use the median instead of the average?
Earnings distributions are skewed: a small number of very high earners pulls the mean upward. The median, the middle value, is less sensitive to those extremes and better represents a typical worker. Most official agencies publish median gaps for that reason.
What does the parity salary mean?
It is the amount a man at the same point in the earnings distribution would earn if the published gap were the only difference. It is an illustration of the size of the gap, not a prediction of what any individual should be paid, because pay also depends on the job, experience, hours and location.