Outright misogyny – not just outdated gender norms – may be an under-acknowledged force behind the US gender pay gap. So says a recent study by University of California economists Dr Molly Maloney and Dr David Neumark, who suggest overt misogyny matters more than we think.
They created a misogyny index using Google Trends data. Instead of relying on attitudinal self-reports, they tracked online search rates for slurs against women, grouped into three categories: violent, manosphere and reactionary.
The idea is that anonymous search behaviour reveals latent hostility that surveys may miss. Both misogyny and traditional gender norms (measured separately using national surveys) were linked to lower female earnings, but misogyny had the stronger, more direct effect.
In areas with higher misogyny scores, women earned significantly less. The study suggests that even if only a small share of employers hold misogynistic views, they can still distort the job market.
Why? Because women may spend more time avoiding or escaping hostile workplaces, and settle for lower pay just to get hired. This added friction can drag down average wages, even where most employers are fair.
The implication: the pay gap may be more personal than is thought, and raw hostility more damaging than we realise.
