The gender pay gap and the mental well-being of women

This paper is about a study on the existence of an association between a gender wage gap and the mental health of women in Germany. SOEP data are used of the years 1992 and 1994-2009 to find out whether a gender wage gap correlates with the perceived health of women in Germany, looking at mental health specifically. It is found that a difference in earnings between men and women is indeed associated with the perceived (mental) health of women, ceteris paribus. This association is positive for women if the gender pay gap is positive, and negative otherwise. This would mean that a gender wage gap whereby men earn more than women, keeping everything else constant, could negatively impact the mental health of women. This addresses another issue as to why the gender wage gap should be minimized, in addition to inequality in labour rewards.