Gender pay gap doubles by mid-career: Glassdoor
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — The gender pay gap more than doubles over the course of a woman’s career, according to a Glassdoor report, with female earnings stalling at age 35 while men’s wages continue to rise.
Chris Martin, Lead Researcher and Senior Economist at Glassdoor, explains, “This gap is driven by trends in the broader market (jobs that tend to employ more women are typically lower paying), in the office (bias can drive pay and promotion gaps), and in the home (women still shoulder more caregiving work).”
The mid-career earnings cliff explained
The report notes, “The gender pay gap grows from 12% for workers with 0 years of experience to 19% for workers with 10 years of experience and 25% for workers with 30 years of experience.”
Glassdoor’s research distinguishes between the “overall” gap and the “within-role” gap. The within-role gap—where women are paid less than men in identical positions—holds relatively steady at 5% during the second half of a career.
However, while men’s earnings continue to climb through their 40s, women’s compensation flatlines. This stall persists even for women without children, indicating that factors beyond caregiving are at play.
Martin notes that caregivers specifically ”advance less in the workplace and be less successful, because they have needs that are not being met or accommodated by the organization.”
Data indicates that between 10 and 30 years of experience, the “between-role” differences—the types of jobs and levels of seniority men and women achieve—account for the majority of the growing income disparity.
The glass ceiling: Promotion and pay disparity
According to Martin, high-paying positions are awarded to men at much higher rates than to women during this critical period, thus putting a ceiling on the extent of advancement women are allowed in most organizations.
CNBC reports that this disparity remains even when factoring in performance metrics. A 2022 study showed that even with higher performance ratings than their male counterparts, women were still perceived as having less promotion potential.
This bottleneck is heavily reflected in corporate statistics. McKinsey & Company’s 2025 Women in the Workplace report indicates that only 93 women for every 100 men received a promotion to manager last year.
The imbalance escalates at higher ranks: women make up only 29% of C-suite executives and a mere 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
As the report notes, “Women continue to be underrepresented at every level of corporate America and continue to face a ‘broken rung’ at the first promotion to manager.”
To counter these systemic trends, analysts recommend that companies conduct proactive pay equity reviews to identify deviations and ensure equal rates of promotion for both sexes. Additionally, one should offer structural support through flexible work and paid family leave.
Jasmine Tucker, Vice President for Research at the National Women’s Law Center, stressed that “systemic solutions like implementing universal child care and paid family leave are key to leveling the playing field for women.”
The expanding mid-career gender pay gap is an indication that, unless there are structural changes in practices of promotion, pay transparency, and caregiving, systemic inequities may keep limiting women’s long-term earnings and leadership.
