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The first chapter is an attempt to determine if more intensive computer use by women is an explanation for the decrease in the gender wage gap. It uses the Current Population Survey to investigate the relationship between the gender wage gap and computer-use at work. Since literature on the gender wage gap has shown that it is decreasing over the last two decades, this paper examines whether the computer-use wage premium is an explanation for the decreasing gender wage gap. The results suggest that less than ¼ of the wage gap is explained by differences in observable skills between men and women, and that the computer use differential does not substantially help to explain the gender wage gap.

The second chapter explores a new explanation for the unexplained gap: the gender composition of the individual's co-workers. This study is the first to focus on the relationship between the proportion of female co-workers and wages for both males and females. I use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and personnel records from a single firm to investigate the relationship between the proportion of female co-workers and wages. I find that increasing the number of female co-workers lowers wages for both female and male workers. I also find that male wages are negatively related to having a female supervisor. A second part of the empirical research investigates non-linear effects in this relationship. The results suggest that the penalization for working with a higher proportion of females is non-linear.

Studies in developed countries regularly observe a wage penalty for working mothers. The third chapter explores the effects of motherhood on wages and labor force participation for four Latin American countries. Conversely from the evidence found in the developed countries, Latin American results do not show a homogeneous impact of being a mother on wages. I find that wage penalties and premiums are not borne equally among all mothers.