Do men really make 48% more than women in the gig economy?

In a freelancing industry, where people can set their own wages, why are women still falling behind?

A new study came out this month by ZenBusiness, which surveyed almost 6,000 US-based freelancers. It uncovered that on average, men make 48% more per hour than women in the freelance economy.

The study looked at 6 of the most common freelance industries, uncovering that the pay discrepancy was biggest in admin, information technology, and customer services. One of the biggest discrepancies was uncovered in IT and computer science, with men charging $100.90 per hour compared to women who were only charging $30, or 3x less for the same work. That’s not to say some of the data science positions were as skewed, with data entry, virtual assistants, and tech support bringing in a similar amount of wages regardless of gender.

Freelance Writing: The Most Equitable Distribution

In more creative industries, like freelance writing and image editing, the pay distribution was equal, with some instances demonstrating women earning more than their male counterparts. Some have speculated this could be due to the fact that there is more representation of women in creative industries than men. For example, a report by Zippia, which ZenBusiness referenced in their finding, found that there are 118,000 graphic signers in America, 50.2% of them being women. Compare that to computer programming, which is held by 79% men.

The study found the most equitable distribution of earnings occurred in freelance writing.

In order to back up the study’s findings, ZenBusiness ensured only those who had billed at least 100 hours of work in the past six months were included in their study.

Overall, men on average charge $68.58 per hour, while women came in at $46.30.

What is Causing the Wage Disparity?

So that begs the question of why? Why is there still a pay gap in a new economy where there are no corporate rules?

In the freelancing economy, freelancers are left to negotiate their own rates. There is no middleman or bureaucracy to do it for them.

In a Bloomberg article, one quote stated “All of the research on negotiations shows if women negotiate under the same exact verbal script as a man, a woman is seen as cold and selfish.”

In a Forbes article detailing why women fall short in negotiation processes, the author posits two causes: the first being that women are insufficiently ambitious or assertive and may be less likely to ask for things int he first place, and second, when women do engage in assertive negotiation, they face backlash since people do not find it appropriate for women to behave aggressively.

One study from Harvard found that both male and female participants were less interested in working with women who attempted to negotiate a better salary than they were with men who tried to negotiate a higher salary.

In the book Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide, authors Linda Babcock and Lara Laschever uncovered that women are more pessimistic about how much is available when they do negotiate. They ask for less and on average, are paid 30% less than men.

What do you think? Do you think the gig economy pay gap is a result of societal conditioning? Should women simply be asking for more? And how do we go about fixing it?

To watch the full video, visit my YouTube here. Feel free to jump into the comments to get the conversation going.