Over the last half century, as women entered the labor force in large numbers, they have had the opportunity to supplement their kin and friendship networks with coworker networks. It is still the case that women have more kin and friendship ties than men. This gender gap advantages women by providing them with more sources of social support. But men still have more coworker ties than women. This gender gap advantages men by providing them with better access to jobs.

As audit studies spread and take hold, a large body of compelling evidence on gender discrimination in hiring has developed. This evidence reveals that not all women experience the same amount of discrimination. It’s especially costly for a woman to be a parent: At the point of hiring, parenthood sharply penalizes women but not men. However,women with part-time employment histories are not penalized, whether compared with men who have part- time employment histories or women who have full-time employment histories.

Because women have primary responsibility for the care of children, women use social safety net programs more often than men. Gender differences in safety net use cannot be fully explained by gender differences in family type. The obstacles to engaging with the safety net are often greater for single fathers than single mothers, and single mothers are more likely to receive cash and food assistance.

Gender wage gaps, as conventionally measured, understate the extent of gender inequality in the labor market. When gender differences in wages are examined in conjunction with gender differences in labor force participation, fringe benefits, and self-employment income, men’s average labor earnings are 75 percent higher than women’s. Under this fuller accounting, women thus earn 57 cents for each dollar earned by men. Although women have come to comprise almost 50 percent of the formal labor market, their representation in top labor income groups has risen very slowly.

The male-female life expectancy gap, which favors females, fell from 7.6 years in 1970 to 4.8 years in 2010, a reduction of more than one-third. Most of this convergence was caused by asubstantial decline from 1990 to 2000 in HIV-AIDS mortality and in the homicide rate. Because HIV-AIDS and homicide affect men more than women, a decline in these underlying rates had the effect of reducing the male-female life expectancy gap. Life expectancy has stagnated for the last several years for men and women, primarily due to increases in drug poisoning deaths and in the suicide rate.