Gay men earn less than straight men, study says

A new report has revealed that gay men earn less on average than straight men.

On average gay men in the UK earn 5% less than their straight counterparts, and the difference is far greater in other parts of the world, says the study – which was commissioned by the World Bank and the economic research institute IZA World of Labor.

While gay men tended to earn less, the report found that lesbian employees actually earned 8% more than straight women on average, something that the author of the report put down to their “career-oriented life decisions,” The Telegraph reports.

Dr Nick Drydakis, a senior economics lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, said: “Lesbians may realise early in life that they will not marry into a traditional household,” said Dr Nick Drydakis, a senior economics lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and the author of the report.

“Lesbians may be willing to make a series of career-oriented decisions, such as staying in school longer, choosing a degree that is likely to lead to a higher paying job, and working longer hours.”

He added that lesbians “tend to self-select into male-dominated occupations that may offer higher salaries.”

Dr Drydakis hypothesised that as many workplaces tend to value dominant ‘masculine’ characteristics, men and women who do not conform to stereotypical gender roles may be treated differently to their peers.

Gay men “may upset conventional assumptions about gender, and so their contributions to the firm and their leadership abilities may not be properly evaluated and they can be overlooked for promotions,” he said.

“These findings imply that legislative protection constitutes only a small step toward improving the employment circumstances and general well-being of people who are gay or lesbian.”

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