The stubborn pay gap and how to bridge it

Following the recent passage of equal pay bill in California, the debate has resurfaced – how to implement this goal to establishing equality in pay nationwide, and what researches back up the credibility of such a need (since apparently, we somehow manage to remain in doubts about paying women equally even in 2016).

Sharing an excerpt below, from the New York Times article by Claire Cain Miller –

“Research has found that salaries at men and women’s first jobs out of school are fairly similar. The gender pay gap widens a few years later when women start having children.

Sometimes their pay lags because they take breaks from work when their children are young, work fewer hours or take more time off than men for child care crises. Sometimes their employers assume they’ll do so, even if they don’t.

Policies that help keep women in the work force, like affordable child care, paid sick days and parental leave, could help. In states that offer paid parental leave, for instance, mothers are more likely to return to work, work more hours and earn higher wages, economists have found.

“If a cashier gets pregnant, has no parental leave, has to leave and reapply for her job, that’s not the same as making a career choice,” said Philip Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland. “One thing policy can do is make it easier for women to stick with their careers.””