Not sure if someone has mentioned it yet, but most studies which try to conclude a large wage gap exists just look at the average amount women earn and compare it to men.
The problem is, most women go into education with the thought of children in the back of their mind, so they generally don't take subjects which lead to long careers with plenty of career progression (e.g computer science, engineering). In addition, even if women do take these subjects and start a career, some of them take between 10 - 15 years out in order to raise children, meaning they don't build up those years of "experience" that men do (and experience is a large contributing factor to promotions and higher wages).
When you account for these factors, the wage gap shrinks from women earning 75c for ever dollar a man earns, to 97c for every dollar. So the wage gap certainly exists, but it's nowhere near the level most people claim. The former figure is akin to claiming ageism because 20-something's earn less than 30-something's on average.
The problem is, most women go into education with the thought of children in the back of their mind, so they generally don't take subjects which lead to long careers with plenty of career progression (e.g computer science, engineering). In addition, even if women do take these subjects and start a career, some of them take between 10 - 15 years out in order to raise children, meaning they don't build up those years of "experience" that men do (and experience is a large contributing factor to promotions and higher wages).
When you account for these factors, the wage gap shrinks from women earning 75c for ever dollar a man earns, to 97c for every dollar. So the wage gap certainly exists, but it's nowhere near the level most people claim. The former figure is akin to claiming ageism because 20-something's earn less than 30-something's on average.
