Job often establishes gender wage gap

Do not let any person tell you there is no such thing as a gender wage gap. It is genuine, but it's pretty complex, as there isn't an entirely acceptable explanation for it all the time. It also differs by careers, as some gender income gaps are smaller than others. Source of article: Professions with the smallest gender wage gap

Controversy on men vs. women payment

Recently, political figures have been discussing the gender income gap, or the gulf between what men are paid for certain work compared to women. In most cases, women are paid less. Todd Akin, the Congressional candidate who said that women couldn't get pregnant from “legitimate rape,” whatever that could possibly mean, recently said women should be paid less because “freedom” meant businesses should pay whatever they want and government shouldn't dictate wages.

In 2000, women’s weekly earnings were 76.1 percent of men’s, but that has increased a ton to 2010 when the number was 82.8 percent of men’s weekly earnings, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means the wage gap is real, according to Forbes.

Some careers with smaller gap

It varies by career field, however. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction, according to 2009 data, had the smallest gender income gap among sectors, as women's earnings were 92.2 percent of men's earnings. The next closest was agriculture, where women earned 84.6 percent of men's earnings, followed by leisure and hospitality, at 83.5 percent.

Some specific occupations nearing parity involved computer scientists and systems analysts, at 92.0 percent, computer support specialists at 92.2 percent, computer engineers at 93.3 percent, social service and community advisors at 94.1 percent, secondary school teachers at 91.4 percent, special education teachers at 97.7 percent, editors at 93.0 percent, registered nurses at 95.0 percent, fast food and prep workers at 97.2 percent and personal and home care aides at 95.8 percent. The closest to absolute parity was postal service clerks, at 99.9 percent.

The BLS also found that a few careers paid women more than men. Life, physical science and social science technicians earned 102.4 percent of male colleagues, bakers earned 104.0 percent, and teacher’s assistants earned 104.6 percent, dining room and cafeteria attendants and bar backs earned 111.1 percent of their male counterparts.

Most severe at the top

The most high-paying careers had the largest gender income gaps. Lawyers earned 74.9 percent of their male colleagues, female financial managers earned 66.6 percent of male counterparts' wages, female HR managers earned 69.3 percent and loan counselors earned 67.4 percent of male earnings. Physicians and surgeons earned 64.2 percent of male earnings, securities and commodities sales agents earned 64.5 percent of the average wages of male colleagues.

The world field, according to the Wharton School of Business, was financial services because women only got 70.5 percent of what men got paid, according to Time magazine. Women who were stock brokers only got 67 percent of what men got.

CBS reports that there are a lot of reasons, but the Government Accountability Office explained that childbirth was not enough of a hindrance to explain the income gap. Bloomberg explained that the growth does have a lot to do with birthing children though.

Sources

Forbes

BLS (PDF - Requires Adobe Reader)

BLS