It s a compelling question, but not one that explains the wage gap the bureau found among men and women in the same jobs. Frequently, chat group discussions about wages touch off other topics of dispute between men and women, like child-rearing and health care. One conversation about American Income on America Online started with unequal pay and quickly ricocheted between contentious subjects. Right, because women have shorter working lives, because of having children, and so can t achieve the same seniority as men, a man countered. Men also die several years younger than women.
Women make less than men because men keep women out of the high-paying positions.
There are plenty of women working and not having children. There are plenty of men working and having children. Taking off six weeks to have a baby does not harm a career. Having a husband who won t share child-rearing responsibility because he wants the big bucks instead will. A previous Careers column describing how Wage Disparities For Men and Women Persist, and news stories that made the front pages of major newspapers, including The New York Times, drew ire from male readers.