Wage Discrimination, Segregation, and Sex Differences in Wages and Productivity within and between Plants

We use panel data on Israeli manufacturing plants to test two explanations of lower wages and lower productivity in plants with a higher percentage of females: (1) within plants, women are paid less and are less productive, consistent with no discrimination, and (2) women are segregated into lower-wage and lower-productivity plants. Although the variation in productivity across plants appears to stem from differences in productivity between men and women, the estimates suggest no within-plant wage differential between men and women