Season 2 • Episode 5
Fair Share for the Ladies - Part 1
The history behind the gender pay gap: women’s labor, wages, economic value and the systems that helped shape today’s persistent earnings disparities.
About This Episode
There are few numbers in American economic life more quoted than the pay-gap statistic, and few that generate more argument. Jennifer and Julie take the long view, looking at how women’s labor was valued, how wages replaced worth, how war altered the industrial economy and why the final miles toward equity have proved stubborn.
In This Episode
- Why the gender pay gap is more complicated than a single statistic
- How women’s unpaid and underpaid labor shaped economic history
- How industrialization changed the relationship between work and wages
- Why wartime labor shifts opened doors without erasing structural barriers
- How history continues to influence modern compensation systems
- Why understanding the architecture matters when trying to change it
Cocktail of the Episode
The Fair Share
The Fair Share blends gin, amaro, pomegranate juice, lemon, honey syrup and orange bitters. It is tart, layered and deliberately assertive.
Browse all Money Well Studio cocktails →Links & Resources
Keep digging
National Women’s Law Center
A useful source for current research and policy work on women’s economic security.
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