This research attempted to evaluate the pay-gap between women with children and women without children. Previous literature consistently concludes women with children will have lower incomes than women without children. The income determination model is composed of individual, structural, and gender segments and is used to examine the pay-gap between these two groups. The 2004 American Time Use Survey dataset is used to analyze the hypothesis that women with children will have a lower income than women without children. Results in this research contradict previous research. OLS Regression revealed women with children have a higher income than women without children. However, further analysis showed women without children have higher economic return for their age and occupational prestige than do women with children. The structural segment in the income determination model explained the disparity more than the other two segments. Policy implications are discussed. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Sociology.

This study investigated the economic returns from higher education for re-entry women. Re-entry women are continually concerned with whether or not returning to college and acquiring a degree will result in increased earnings. While sufficient evidence exists to show that earnings increase as years of education increase, this study concluded that this may not hold true for re-entry women. As a result of prior work experience, these women may have relatively high earnings among the occupations that do not require college degrees only to acquire entry-level positions upon completion of the college degree. There may be little or no difference between the salaries of these two work levels. This study was directed by the major research question -- "Does the age at the time females obtain four-year degrees affect their subsequent earnings?" and used path analysis to test a model of the direct and indirect effects of age at the time the degree is received on earnings while holding constant the effects of other variables. These analyses included and accounted for labor market, human capital and socioeconomic variables, prior earnings, race, prior work experience, college major and occupation, all of which may affect earnings. The findings did not support the null hypothesis that earnings for re-entry women will increase after the receipt of the college degree. The findings also indicated that earnings before the degree had a significant effect on earnings after the degree. / Ph. D.

The earnings gap between men and women, an apt indicator of women's status relative to men's, was roughly constant for the thirty-five years between 1950 and 1985. During this period women earned about 60 to 65 cents for every dollar earned by men. The purpose of this study is to analyze the determinants of this wage gap. Because much existing research suggests that a large portion of the gender gap in pay results from the segregation of women into low-paying jobs, the present study focuses on the role of gender segregation in the workplace. Other potential contributors to the earnings gap are also examined (women's domestic obligations, educational attainment, women's labor force participation rates, and the industrial mix in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas). The position of women as a group in the labor market is of primary interest in this research. Accordingly, the analysis was conducted on an aggregate level across labor markets. The data were drawn from the Bureau of the Census Census of the Population: 1980—Detailed Population Characteristics. The project uses a cross-sectional research design, the primary statistical technique used being multiple regression analysis. Findings reveal that workplace segregation and the industrial characteristics of SMSA labor markets have the strongest effect on the size of the gender-based earnings gap. Specifically, workplace segregation is positively related to the size of the earnings gap between men and women. The presence of above average levels of manufacturing activity in an SMSA is associated with a larger earnings gap while the presence of above average levels of service sector and government employment opportunities in an SMSA is associated with smaller earnings differentials between men and women. This study enhances the understanding of the effects of structural variables on the earnings determination process for men and women and provides insight into the collective situation of women in the labor market.