7 arguments that illustrate why career choice does not explain the gender pay gap:
April 2 is Equal Pay Day, and, at least for one day, attention will be focused on the fact that women do not earn as much as men for working the same jobs. Of course, many still believe that unequal pay has nothing to do with discrimination and bias, and everything to do with characteristics unique to women. One of the most prominent explanations for why women earn less money than men surrounds career choice. Women, the argument goes, just prefer careers that pay less.
Although most women don't have paltry pay on their list of career objectives, it's true that women and men do take different career paths. And careers dominated by women do tend to pay less. However, the issue isn't really one of choice. We must ask ourselves why women end up in those careers, and why those particular careers pay less than male-dominated careers. Here are seven arguments that illustrate why career choice does not explain the gender pay gap.
Chalking the pay gap up to women's career choice is like blaming global warming on the polar bears. In reality, it is unconscious bias that is the primary cause of the gender pay gap, not gender-based career choices. Unconscious bias causes women's work to be undervalued relative to men's. This bias gives many boys confidence in STEM courses, which give them confidence to major in STEM subjects in college and then to enter high-paying STEM fields.
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