- Having more money and a higher status than others can be good for your health.
- Powerful people have what's known as a "stress buffer" that reduces fear and helps them perform better.
- Recent research suggests that people who perceive themselves as unfairly compensated may internalize the feelings of lower status and can suffer from bad health as a result.
- The stress can create chemical changes in the brain that promote long-term health problems.
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What knowing that you make less money because you're a woman does to your brain, according to science
Research suggests that people who perceive themselves as unfairly compensated may internalize feelings of lower status and suffer from bad health as a result.
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Reports about the persistent gender pay gap have proliferated in recent weeks.
Michelle Williams reportedly got paid 0.0006% of what Mark Wahlberg did to re-shoot scenes in their upcoming movie "All the Money in the World." As USA Today reported, Williams received less than $1,000 for her work, while Wahlberg raked in $1.5 million.
Meanwhile, new "Today" co-anchor Hoda Kotb says she’s definitely not making what she called "Matt Lauer money". Lauer likely made around $10 million a year before he was fired from the network for inappropriate sexual behavior at work, NBC said. According to People, Kotb said her new salary is "not even close".
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At the BBC, Carrie Gracie, a senior editor in China, quit her job earlier this month because she said the company had a "secretive and illegal" salary system that systematically paid men more, as The New York Times reported.
On average, women in the US make around .79 cents on the dollar compared to men doing the same work. For black women, the number may be even lower — the Economic Policy Institute estimates they make .67 cents for every dollar a white man doing the same work would be paid.
Knowing that you make less money than someone doing the same kind of work can mess with your brain.
Scientists have known for years that powerful, high-status people derive health benefits from their lofty socioeconomic perch. But Pranjal Mehta, who studies power hormones at University College London, says the health-boosting effects of power are not absolute, and instead have to do with how you feel about where you rank in the social pecking order.
Some psychologists refer to the health-boosting effect of power as a "stress buffer" — it gets displayed in the body in the form of lower cortisol levels and higher levels of testosterone. These physiological changes reduce fear in powerful people and help them perform better.
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Other research suggests people who feel powerful are also more in tune with their "gut feelings" (though they’re not as good at empathizing with others). They’re also less likely to develop stress-linked diseases like heart conditions and type 2 diabetes. Oh, and they live longer.
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