Can the Gender Wage Gap Be Explained By Differences In Thinking?

One often hear that girls think a lot more than guys about what guys really think than what guys think about what girls really think. I am not writing this because I have seen the terrible movie ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ too many times, but I have actually made some observations of my own (excluding myself of course to get a sense of objectivity). Actually, the state of a guys mind does not seem to be all the mind of a girl is occupied by. A male friend pointed out the other day that girls seem to care more than guys about other people in the sense that they care more about how other people are doing and what other people think. To sum up: girls seem to spend a lot of time evaluating thoughts and feelings of other people while the guys are doing something else. What???

I can imagine that some of the time may be spent on several potentially wage enhancing activities. Some examples straight from my imagination:

• Read interesting and productivity enhancing literature;
• Learn how to use a new computer program;
• Evaluate news;
• Rewrite the CV;
• Invent the new social media;
• ETC…

Moreover, not constantly evaluating thoughts and feelings of others also make you more focused on what you are working with at any time, something that should contribute significantly to your productivity and the quality of your work. Thus, since gender based differences in thinking potentially have an effect on the choices and performance of activities these differences may be a factor behind the gender wage gap.

The causes and consequences of gender based differences in thinking is a topic that is little explored in the economic literature. This blog will most certainly help filling this gap with future blog posts on the topic.