I appreciate the concerns raised by this article, but I just want to clarify that the wage gap isn't strictly related to gender. As a male who has studied art, foreign languages, literature, and who has worked in education--all supposed "female" interests--I too have been disenfranchised economically by working in "women's professions." Certainly, equal pay for women is an issue, but the real problem is addressing how to make life in America affordable for ALL people who aren't interested in getting an MBA or aren't good in math or science or business. Tiered tuition costs based on real post-college pay scales are a good start, but a strong social net is the best goal. Unless you work in science, medicine, or finance, have a head for business, or have parents willing and able to give you a leg up, you can forget about, say, owning real estate or building capital in America today. That goes for women AND men who study "traditional women's subjects."

I wonder about supply and demand in this situation. If there are twice as many graduates in a field, because all of the students who are interested and capable are choosing to major in it, instead of half, then naturally the price for the labor would come down.

If half the population, though, is not choosing to sign up for a certain major or career, then labor would be rarer and thus more costly.

The only way for professions to counter this is to do what the medical profession has done for doctors-strictly limit the class sizes and thus the graduates from medical schools.

I don't doubt there is some kernel of truth that professions generally filled by women are valued less, but having twice the supply of capable candidates does reduce the going price for a particular job.

Oh no! Women Engineers who make better money than the vast majority of the population are slightly underpaid than male engineers?! Call for a new revolution!

This is stupid. Feminist resources would be much better put in encouraging women who major in social sciences and then are lucky to squeak out 30k/year into engineering where they'll get 60k than to worry about the men of similar educations who make 62k.

I would like to see what the wage gap is for white women, as compared for instance to Latina, or African-American women. The AAUW stated that regarding college, there is no boy crisis, but there is a crisis regarding boys of color. The media quickly picked up on that nonsense and ran with it. As Alexander Russo wrote, "Women's Group Says Boys Not In Crisis; Female Reporters Agree." Then we can say, "Don't worry, there is no real wage gap. It's just the people of color."

When studies of gender wage gaps take into account choices made by each gender, such as analyzing absentism, hours worked, occupational choice, and maternity leave, the wage gap is neglible. No one can argue that the trend in women's earnings is on an upward slope, and that for men they have stagnated. Furthermore, if we were to compare the wages of yonger women, that gap closes even further.

As for "supporting" girls to partake in sporting activities that involve more spacial relations, I find this kind of logic the most trouble of all. When I was growing up, no one had to "encourage" my lower middle class, and working class friends to get out on the streets and play sports. It was in their DNA. I refuse to believe that the answer to the wage gap problem is throwing even more resources at girls.

Now that we have a generation of young boys addicted to computers and gaming (turning them into soft idiots) which I term a public health hazard, I will not be surprised when the accoumplishments of girls and women far outstrip those of boys and men. What will our society do in the circumstance? Nothing.

Maybe women need to get someone else to negotiate salaries for them... I'm sure many of the women reading this are offended, but I'm also sure they have, or know someone who has, taken a male relative/friend along when buying a car.

Why not the same for salaries...?

Personally the more money my wife makes the better off my family will be, so it's in my interests for her to make as much as possible. So I deal with her boss and it doesn't reflect on her.

Kate, you just wrote a blog post about pay gap and nowhere in this posting did you mention supply and demand as an influence on pay....ie more women in a field means more supply means less pay...economics 101. Also, nowhere in your article did you talk about the number of hours that are worked, when in fact, study after study shows men work more hours in the office. So before you get too hung up on your cooties, I suggest you go spend some time with some very simple economic concepts.....and then get back to us.

....Funny this was never covered here, the study for the Department of Labor that explains that the adjusted wage gap, not the raw wage gap always touted by activists, is actually only 4.8 to 7.1 percent.

Funny too, how one of the first things Obama did as President, was remove this study from the DOL website.

You can still read it here, at the website of the research company who was commissioned to do it.

http://www.consad.com/content/reports/Gender%20Wage%20Gap%20Final%20Report.pdf

What about the need to let young men know they can move into these supposed "feminized professions"? I get so sick of the rhetoric that places all of the responsibility for changing sexist attitudes and norms on educating "young women". What about the young men? Who is reaching out to them and talking with them about perceptions of masculinity and helping them address their own stereotypes? Who is helping them break out of their boxes? To reach true gender equality, both genders need to be educated about how gender inequality is harmful to both women AND men.