French Gay-Lesbian Wage Gap Report Released
According to a survey conducted by the French organisation Liberation and the economists from the University of Evry, Thierry Laurent and Ferhat Mihoubi, being gay in the workplace has an effect on wages. In the first French study of its kind, the report shows that gay men earn 6.5% less than their heterosexual colleagues in the private sector, and 5.5% less in the public sector. “Having eliminated all biases that could distort the results, we have discovered a significant pay gap which can only be explained through discrimination by sexual orientation”, said Thierry Laurent. According to the study, married managers in France receive an additional 4% in wages compared to unmarried colleagues (an additional 10% in the U.S.). Because gay men have no legal marriage rights in France, gay Frenchmen earn 10.5% less than their heterosexual married colleagues.
As for lesbian women, besides the fact that female homosexuality is less visible and more accepted by society, their status often leads to having fewer children than their heterosexual female colleagues, and thus be more available to work. This is visible in the study as lesbian women earn on average 2% more than their female heterosexual colleagues. “Considering that not all gay men are ‘out’ in companies, this means that focusing on those who face discrimination are even more important,” said Thierry Laurent. This is particularly visible with gay men in the private sector with working experience: those under 35 earn 6.7% less than their counterparts and when they have more than 45 years experience 11.3% less. In the public sector, gay men younger than 35 suffer much less discrimination, as recruitment is mostly through anonymous applications.
