Stark pay differences between men and women remain in this country. In 2010 women made on average only about 77 cents for every dollar men made. While this number is up from 58.8 cents per dollar earned by men in 1975, it remains a far cry from the point where women make equal pay for equal work. And while critics of the movement for pay equity often dismiss the gender pay gap as one due completely to occupational and lifestyle choices, a rigorous analysis of data by labor economists Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn found that over 40 percent of the pay gap cannot be explained by such differences, concluding that “there is evidence that…discrimination does still continue to exist.”
But the gender pay gap isn’t just an issue of fairness. It is also a question of economic empowerment, both for working women and for their families. In 2010 the median full-time working man took home $47,715 in earnings, while the median full-time working woman made only $36,931—77.4 percent of that amount, or $10,784 less.
via Infographic: The Gender Pay Gap | Center for American Progress.
