Children Cause Gender Pay Gap?

According to “Wage Gap for Men and Women Almost Closed for Millennials,” women are in strong positions regarding wages and are “exceeding men in terms of educational attainment,” their probability of getting into college and receiving a degree surpassing that of males.  This sounds like great news for women, and, in many ways, it is.  Unfortunately, even with these statistics, women are still less likely to work in a top leadership position than men of the same age.  You can argue that they may not necessarily want to be in those positions, but the 66% of women who would like to become boss or manager contradicts that statement.  Why the gap?  Is there a quality men possess that women do not?  Is there a common feature in every women that prevents her from matching the quality or quantity of work she is able to produce to that of a man?

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In answer, some look to maternal duties.  “When family needs require a parent to sacrifice, it is the women who take time off, cut back on hours, or even quit their job.”  Granted, more men than ever before are taking these risks as well, but there continues to be an imbalance.  Who is it that comes home early to make you dinner?  Who is it that picks you up from school when you aren’t feeling well?  “So much of the pay gap, in recent years, is a function of women taking time off and reducing their time at work.”  Parenting makes it difficult for a women to advance in her position at work. Yet, if mothers were removed from the pay gap equation, there’d still be a pay gap.

Marie-Claude Blais in “The Wage Gap is ‘More Than Just a Dollar Figure’” claims that this is because the work that women tend to do, such as care for children or seniors, doesn’t seem to be valued by society as much as other work.  “In theory at least, all of us would value our children over our cars, but it practice, a parking attendant and the person who cares for your children all day can get the same salary.  There’s something wrong here,” Blais says.  It is clear that this gender pay gap won’t be a problem easily fixed.