"The gender pay gap is way overblown by the media — here are the real stats"

[flyspyro]

No. The important thing is why does the gap exist. IS the gap there because of sexism? Or is the gap there because on average, men and women approach "work" in slightly different ways?

It's both. You have many factors that make numbers which is why I agree that the wage gap is less then what they are saying . But there is still a gap. As a female, I experience sexism. It may not be everyday, but there are times where I'm left like WTF.
So, to say that sexism doesn't play a role is nieve. It's in peoples minds. Frankly, theres a lot of men that do it and don't even realize that they are doing it because it's the norm. for example- I have friends that are guys and sometimes they make comments that are very sexist. like throws like a girl or cries like a girl comments. or how they have made the word cocksucker a derogatory term. I thought that was suppose to be a good thing?(its no wonder i dont ever want to do it.) what does that say about the people who do it? just saying...... I've brought it up once or twice and ask them what they thought. after bringing it up, they agreed I was right but it doesn't matter because they still do it. Lack of respect? No, I don't think so. it's more a habit I think. at least I hope they don't think less of me. maybe they do?

[Schmeebs]

The pay gap for people who make 20x what I make doesn't matter to me. I know for a fact all the women in my position make either the same as me, or more than me.

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I believed that the gender gap was all but a myth in the US.. UNTIL my wife got her most recent job. She has been at her most recent job for a little over 3 years now. She is actually the ONLY one other than her supervisor that has a collage degree. The rest of the people in her department only have certifications..

She is also the ONLY female in the department because every time they hire another girl she makes it about 3-6 months and quits because she finds out how much more the men are making then the women.. My wife makes $14.23 per hour, the rest of her department makes over $19.00 an hour. Her supervisor keeps claiming that its because she is not "fully trained" which technically you can says she is not.. HOWEVER she e-mails him daily asking for the training. Then theirs also the issue that ALL the other guys are hired in at $19.00 an hour and SHE is expected to train them. I could keep going with example after example, but i think this is enough.

She is currently seeking another job and we are in contact with an attorney. He says with all the documentation that we all ready have, whe should have an amazing sexual discrimination case.

So... what your wife's employer is doing is highly illegal. That doesn't mean that there is a system pay gap issue, it means your wife's employer is doing terrible things

[alexkeren]

Pay gap exists. It's not 20-30%, but it's there. People like to use the fact that the media overblows it to discredit the fact that it exists.

Nobody says it doesn't exist, just that the reasons for it are valid and it's a smaller fraction today than it was even 10 years ago. And if you don't work, you don't get paid (excluding of course when you have still have paid time off in the vacation bank).

Also, unless you compare women and men who entered the exact same job at the exact same time with the exact same experience levels there are a number of valid reasons why there are differences in pay. Otherwise you aren't making a valid comparison.

Also base pay rates get adjusted periodically, is the study comparing a man who just got a merit raise to a woman who is still 3 months from her annual review to net her merit raise, etc?

[ellieg]

It's both. You have many factors that make numbers which is why I agree that the wage gap is less then what they are saying . But there is still a gap. As a female, I experience sexism. It may not be everyday, but there are times where I'm left like WTF.
So, to say that sexism doesn't play a role is nieve. It's in peoples minds. Frankly, theres a lot of men that do it and don't even realize that they are doing it because it's the norm. for example- I have friends that are guys and sometimes they make comments that are very sexist. like throws like a girl or cries like a girl comments. or how they have made the word cocksucker a derogatory term. I thought that was suppose to be a good thing?(its no wonder i dont ever want to do it.) what does that say about the people who do it? just saying...... I've brought it up once or twice and ask them what they thought. after bringing it up, they agreed I was right but it doesn't matter because they still do it. Lack of respect? No, I don't think so. it's more a habit I think. at least I hope they don't think less of me. maybe they do?

Those aren't sexist lol. Have you seen how the majority of girls throw compared to the majority of guys? That's just factual. Cocksucker isn't sexist, id say its homophobic. When I call someone a cocksucker, im implying they are gay, not a girl.

Im not saying sexism doesn't exist, I just don't believe its the biggest factor in this pay gap. Men and women are different. They approach situations different. I think this is the biggest factor.

Guys face sexism too. Im the one who takes the trash out in the office. I work with all females. I do all the manual labor tasks. Even the ones that don't require strength to do. Im expected to do it because im male.

[Tinykong]

So... what your wife's employer is doing is highly illegal. That doesn't mean that there is a system pay gap issue, it means your wife's employer is doing terrible things

It's not illegal to pay people different wages, even those that perform the same job.

[Dreknar20]

~10% is totally significant and still a big thing that needs changing. That seems plenty alarming to me.

that's kinda the other point of the article

Not only is the % overblown, but the role discrimination plays in that is also overblown