We hate to depress you mums, but according to new research, if you have a brother, you’re less likely to earn a high income.
Yep, according to researchers at Cornell University, your male siblings could be to blame for your low pay packet.
Researchers Angela Cools and Eleonora Patacchini found that women who had a brother or brothers had a ten percent lower income than the average woman in her late 20s or early 30s.
However, if a woman had no brothers, the overall gender pay gap would likely be five percent smaller.
The researchers say that: “Siblings may affect each other indirectly, by changing parents’ investments or expectations for a particular child.
"Siblings may also affect each other directly through their interactions with each other”.
Researchers believed this pay gap difference can be attributed to the fact women with brothers tend to be more family-oriented and prioritise being in a committed relationship than those who have only sisters or no siblings.
Apparently, those who have brothers also tend to express more interest in having a family also.
“We find that women with brothers have more traditional gender roles and family responsibilities,” an excerpt from the study explained.
They examined several other factors, including differences in parental investment, cognitive abilities, parental expectations, or personality traits but found no evidence that any of these contributed to the wage gap.
Despite the efforts to narrow the gender pay gap, researchers say women continue to earn less than men on both an annual and weekly basis.
Researchers say these findings could be crucial in narrowing the pay gap between men and women.
“By examining the role of sibling gender composition on women’s wages, we show that exogenous changes in family environments can lead women to adopt less sex-typed attitudes and behaviors, potentially reducing earnings gaps between men and women later in life", the study reads.
We’re a bit disheartened to learn our beloved brothers might be the reason why we aren’t making the big bucks!
