STILL Unequal

Women may have made great strides in recent decades toward equality with men. But today MSNBC reports that there is STILL a stark pay gap for US college-educated women. According to a report released by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, one year after receiving their college degree, women make a mere 80 percent of that of their male classmates.

MSNBC quotes Catherine Hill, director of research at AAUW. *These employees don’t have a lot of experience and, for the most part, don’t have care-giving obligations, so you would expect there to be very little difference in the wages of men and women. But we find that women already earn less – even when they have the same major and occupation as their male counterparts.*

The 80 percent difference in pay is the good news. The bad news is that 10 years down the road that difference increases to 69 percent. Not only that, but by that point college-educated men have more authority in the workplace and are more likely to be involved in the hiring and firing, supervising, and setting pay than their female counterparts are. Those are especially disappointing facts considering the study also showed that while in college, women outperformed men academically, with higher grade point averages in every major subject, including math and science.

To read the full MSNBC report, go to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18274861/