Religion is a preeminent social institution that meaningfully shapes cultures. Prevailing
theory suggests that it is primarily a benevolent force in business, and differences across
world religions preclude examining effects that thread across religions.We develop a theoretical
account that fundamentally challenges these assumptions by explaining howand
why religiosity—regardless of which religion is prominent—differentiates based on gender,
widening the gender wage gap. Guided by an integrated reviewof the religion literature,
we specify three dimensions of gender differentiation—social domains, sexuality,
and agency—that explain why religiosity widens the gender wage gap.Aseries of studies
tested our theoretical model. Two studies showcased the predictive power of religiosity
on the gender wage gap across 140 countries worldwide and the 50 United States via
gender-differentiated social domains, sexuality, and agency, explaining 37% of the variance
inthewage gap.U.S. longitudinal data indicated that the genderwage gap is narrowing
significantly faster in secular states. Moreover, experiments allowed for causal
inference, revealing that gender-egalitarian interventions blocked the effect of religiosity
on the gender wage gap. Finally, theoretical and empirical accounts converge to suggest
that religiosity’s effect on the gender wage gap applies across themajor world religions.