Final post, Wage gap

     So for my final blog, I want to write about the wage gap. Mainly for the reason I didn't understand it while I was researching about elections. It really caught my eye and confused the hell out of me. While I was reading about it initially, all I could find about it was how it was a huge deal, but nothing told me why it existed or what caused it. So, I continued my research and found some answers. 

     I first had to start with, "what is a gender wage gap?"  The story almost everyone hears is, "Gender wage gap is that women make 78 cents to the dollar compared to men" but that doesn't give the full story.  That stat only represents uncontrolled gender pay gap, which looks at a median salary for all men and women regardless of job type or worker seniority.  What often gets lost in translation with uncontrolled pay gaps is the women are less likely to hold high level or high paying jobs. I see that there is more of an opportunity gap, than a 'equal pay for equal work' kind of gap. Which is an example of controlled wage gap. When you see a man and a women doing the same exact job for the same exact  wages you see the pay gap decrease significantly, but still making 2 cents less than a man annually.   

     Next, I wanted to know what causes the gap in the first place. I found some research, but it only explains 60% of the reason. Work experience at 10%, union status at 4%, choice of occupation at 27%,  and choice of work hours, (often lower of a woman has children at home) lower paying jobs and or not working for longer periods of time make up the other 19%. Another quarter of the gap is due to the differences in wages paid by companies who hire mostly men or mostly women.  This includes 'manly man' jobs like mining, manufacturing, and construction, which mostly hire men. On the other side we have jobs like secretaries, waitresses, office jobs, and nursing. (which are the top four common jobs held my mostly women according to studies by Lisa Johnson Mandel) These jobs often pay less but involve less manual labor.