Wage Gap

A gender-related issue that I think is very important is the large wage gap between men and women. While it seems like a non-issue, this problem is very real: as of 2004, women earned just 76.5% of what men earned! This problem is not new: it has been going on for a very long time. While some may argue that "women don't work as hard" or flock to "women's jobs", consider this: according to studies, female scientists have to be twice as accomplished as male scientists in order to receive the credit. Still, some assert that the economic risk of a woman taking maternity leave is a good enough reason to pay them less. I would agree with this statement, except for the fact that this is a (rather sexist) assumption on the part of the employer. Another interesting aspect of the wage gap is the amount married people (regardless of gender) make versus unmarried. (Unmarried women earn 94.2% of what men earn.) One thing that I think these studies need to do in order to improve their credibility (as well as their accuracy) is to take into account the occupations, hours, experience and skill levels, and even the relative size/age of the organization for which they work. Taking these factors in account would present a much more realistic picture of the situation, rather than some of these possibly inflated statistics. I do believe, however, that even if the situation has indeed been hyperbolated, the wage gap is a significant problem that needs to be addressed in the near future, if not now.