Gender Gaps in Benefits Coverage

This paper explores the extent to which there are gender gaps in the provision of 4 common non-wage benefits offered by employers: pensions, health insurance, sick leaves, and disability plans. I find that there are gender differences in whether or not benefits are offered, which remain statistically significant when observable characteristics such as age, education, marital status and number of children are controlled for. Women are less likely to be offered pensions, health coverage, and disability. However, they are 10% more likely to have paid sick leave. When the wage is controlled for, differences in offered pensions and health insurance disappear, which suggests that much of the difference in benefits coverage is associated with the fact that women work in low-wage jobs.