as employment rates increased similarly for wives of top and bottom earners the reduction in inequality resulting from higher female employment has been fairly strong it is worth noting however that a gender gap remains in terms of wages despite having narrowed by around percentage points since the introduction of the equal pay act in the gender gap in median hourly earnings for a fulltime job is still at ons differently from years ago when the wage gap was already visible at entry in the labour market nowadays it fluctuates around equality up to the age of then opens up and levels off around the age of