Still Falling into the Gap
A quick follow-up to my earlier post which cited stats on the continuing wage gap between men and women, the Associated Press has an article citing a study which shows that the wage gap between equally qualified male and female college-educated workers is evident as early as one year after college and continues to widen over time.
The study, released by the American Association of University Women, found that the women earn 80% of what their male counterparts earn one year after college and 69% of what the men earn ten years after college. Ouch! Moreover, the salaries that women often receive do not reflect their academic acheivements.
Women have slightly higher grade point averages than men in every major, including science and math. But women who attend highly selective colleges earn the same as men who attend minimally selective colleges, according to the study.
Double ouch.
So, the message here is: work hard, study, go tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt to attend an elite school and, Jane, someday you might be able to do the same job as Dick and get paid 30% less.
I visited the organization’s site to check the data and found that they are sponsoring an event called Equal Pay Day for tomorrow, April 24. I really wish I had known about this earlier but it’s still worth looking through the activity guide and checking out the resources. Most are good advice/grassroots action items that can be done anytime. We certainly don’t need a special day to sharpen our salary negotiating skills or help promote financial literacy among the people in our lives, male or female.
I reiterate, this is a topic that’s just screaming for a presidential candidate to make a key part of their platform.
