Human capital, gender and intersectionality

This chapter takes an intersectional, multi-domain approach to addressing the question: Does investment in more and more education and experience address poverty and inequalities? Because of the centrality of the U.S. in the development of the theory and practice of human capital-centred development, this chapter focuses on analysing wage disparities in the U.S. We focus on the institutional mechanisms that produce long-term wage disparities. We adopt a dual approach, discussing quantitative research on the ‘wage gap’ by gender and race, and presenting research evidence on wage disparities within gender categories and other dimensions of social marginalization. Our research demonstrates the limitations of the human capital theory and the continuing relevance of an intersectional, multi-level analysis in the 21st Century. Through looking at labour markets, firms and families together, we are able to see how labour market advantage and disadvantage are produced in different, yet connected, institutional arenas.