You can find a gender earnings gap even in the complete absence of gender discrimination that is explained by gender differences in preferences.
Here’s the paper’s Abstract:
The growth of the “gig” economy generates worker flexibility that, some have speculated, will favor women. We explore one facet of the gig economy by examining labor supply choices and earnings among more than a million rideshare drivers on Uber in the U.S. Perhaps most surprisingly, we find that there is a roughly 7% gender earnings gap among drivers. The uniqueness of our data—knowing exactly the production and compensation functions—permits us to completely unpack the underlying determinants of the gender earnings gap. We find that the entire gender gap is caused by three factors: a) experience on the platform (learning-by-doing), b) preferences over where/when to work, and c) preferences for driving speed. This suggests that, as the gig economy grows and brings more flexibility in employment, women’s relatively high opportunity cost of non-paid-work time and gender-based preference differences can perpetuate a gender earnings gap even in the absence of discrimination.
Men drive faster. Men drive more often than women do. Men are willing to take customers to places that women choose not to. And men are willing to drive at times women are not.
That has nothing to do with Uber’s discriminating against women.
There are a lot of jobs women prefer not to do: electricians, mechanics, construction, machinists, truck drivers, etc.
