Average Paycheck for Men vs. Women: What We’re Missing About the Gender Wage Gap
Written by
Gabrielle Olya
Edited by
Gary Dudak
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It’s sadly common knowledge that the average woman earns less than the average man. The median weekly earnings for men total $1,209, compared to $1,004 for women, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the inequalities go far beyond the paycheck.
Here’s a look at what we’re missing about the gender wage gap.
The Gender Wage Gap Neglects Differences in Education Levels and Occupation Types
Education level has an even bigger impact on pay the gender. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, “full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $721, compared with $905 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,620 for those holding a bachelor’s degree and higher.”
Another factor that plays into the gender wage gap is the type of work that women do versus men.
“Women and people of color are overrepresented in lower-paying roles and industries because their work is not valued as highly,” said Delia Coleman, deputy director of Equal Rights Advocates. “These kinds of roles are often subject to unfair labor practices like wage theft, which exacerbates the problem.”
The ‘Motherhood Penalty’ Also Plays a Role
Even among highly educated women in well-paying jobs, the gender wage gap persists. A 2010 study published in the American Economic Journal followed a group of MBA graduates from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and examined the salaries of thousands of men and women who graduated between 1990 and 2006. While men had slightly higher salaries immediately upon graduating, the differences in salaries reached a peak nine years out of school — at that point, the average male graduate was earning $400,000, while the average female graduate was earning $250,000.
What’s behind this? A phenomenon known as the motherhood penalty — the study found that women with kids had a wage gap that was twice as large as women without kids.
“Working mothers across race and ethnicity experience a wage gap of approximately 58 cents compared to working fathers,” Coleman said. “This is largely due to inadequate family and medical leave policies and a refusal to accommodate workers with caregiver responsibilities, which can result in mothers being forced to quit their jobs or even being let go. And, when working mothers try to re-enter the workforce, they’re often the last rehired. This [is] part of the motherhood penalty.”
As Coleman notes, the penalty is worse for women who work in roles that won’t accommodate their caregiving responsibilities. A Vox report found that the gender pay gap among pharmacists is much smaller than the gap among doctors and lawyers. It explained that while many pharmacies offer flexible schedules, doctors and lawyers often have more rigid schedules, which makes it harder for women to juggle work and caregiving responsibilities.
The report’s author, Sarah Kliff, believes that allowing for flexibility is a crucial component in closing the gender wage gap: “Adding more flexibility won’t erase the gender wage gap overnight,” she wrote. “But it is part of a larger shift in how we see jobs as different now that most workers are also responsible for some level of child care. And there are plenty where we could certainly try harder.”
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