I Just Found Out That Lesbians Tend To Make More Money Than Straight Women, And The Reason Why Makes Sense
Did you know that lesbians tend to make more money than straight women? It's a phenomenon known as the lesbian wage premium, and recently 31-year-old Aria Velz (@ariavelz) shared a video explaining exactly why this may be — and it's honestly fascinating.
In the video, Aria begins by saying, "For years social scientists have observed that lesbians consistently outearn straight women. According to a meta analysis of 30 International Studies, gay women earn an average of 9% more than straight women with variations by country."
However, lesbians still tend to earn less than straight men. Sigh.
Then, she gets into some reasons why lesbians tend to outearn their straight counterparts. "We can start at the obvious: lesbians tend to be more educated than straight women, are less likely to have children, live more predominantly in cities, and have more professional jobs."
"But even when controlling for all of these factors, the lesbian wage premium is still present."
Which leads Aria to the hypothesis that the lesbian wage premium could be directly tied to the kinds of gendered expectations that are often placed on heterosexual women. "Generally in heterosexual couples, the women are more likely to be the primary child rearer and family caretaker, and they're more likely to take up the domestic labor responsibilities at home, meaning that women will often have to make the trade-off for advancing their career."
But in lesbian couples, household labor tends to be more equally divided so neither partner has to sacrifice their work. "In contrast, lesbian households have more equal domestic labor distributions among the couple than straight households. There is not one partner who tends to oversee domestic responsibilities and one partner who is able to focus more on work and earn money."
"Both lesbian partners generally contribute more equally to the household and their careers, meaning that lesbians do not face the same trade offs that straight women do when it comes to focusing more on their family or their career."
Finally, she shares, "Interestingly, when you look at the wages of lesbians who have lived with a previous male spouse and lesbians who have never lived with a male spouse, the lesbian wage premium is significantly more present for the lesbians who have never lived with a male spouse."
"The lesson here is not that lesbians are better at making money. It reconfirms that the domestic labor situation at home contributes to how women earn more outside the home and lesbians have just learned that lesson first."
Watch the full video here:
@ariavelz / Via tiktok.com
In the comments, lesbians are feeling proud:
And bookmarking the video to share with their parents:
People also had questions about where bisexual and pan women fit into the mix. Aria responded, saying that unfortunately, we tend to make less money than straight women.
Aria told BuzzFeed that she loves talking about lesbian media and culture, so she was really excited to share this info about the lesbian wage premium. "We have this idea of what being a lesbian is like on an interpersonal, even community level, but what is it like in the big picture? What perceptions of ourselves can be backed up with or contradicted data?"
"So when I saw this term 'lesbian wage premium,' I was immediately fascinated because it's one of the few instances where being a lesbian might have some kind of economic advantage when much of the LGBTQ population face significant economic disadvantages."
(Speaking of Aria's love for talking about lesbian media, she also has an incredible spreadsheet of all the queer women in TV shows that she's always updating. You're welcome.)
Many commenters on her video suggested that gender presentation may play a role in the lesbian wage premium, but Aria says she hasn't seen any studies on this aspect of it. "There is anecdotal testimony from butch lesbians including myself that we are taken more seriously by male coworkers and bosses than our more feminine women colleagues depending on the industry and work culture, but depending on the industry, it could also be a major hindrance."
"It's definitely something I think is very worthy of further inquiry since gender presentation affects how lesbians are perceived, and many studies on wage earnings will tell you that perception is a far more important factor in how much we earn than we'd like to think."
Finally, Aria says, "What I want people to remember is that lesbians may tend to outearn straight women but that doesn't mean that lesbian couples outearn straight couples. The lesbian wage premium may be real, but the gender wage gap still exists. It's just one part of a broader discussion on gender and earnings."
