Why Is Her Paycheck Smaller?

So in my Women's Studies class this past week my teacher showed us this amazing interactive graph that shows the gender wage gap in different occupations.  I can't post the graph directly here, but here's the link.  It's really fun and super revealing.  If you don't have a lot of time to look at it a little, here's a few of the facts that I found most interesting:

• There are only 3 occupations in which women make more than men.  They are:
• Postal Service Clerks (4% more)
• Special Education Teachers (3% more)
• Data Entry Keyers (1% more)
• The biggest wage gaps are in the following occupations:
• Physicians and Surgeons (40% less)
• Financial Managers and Medical Scientists (37% less)
• Human Resource Managers (32% less)

It's interesting that in the few occupations where women make more than men, the wage gap is in the single digits, whereas where men make more than women in almost all areas, and the biggest gaps are high up in the double digits.

The graph is a little more detailed than the classic statistic that for every dollar a man makes a woman earns 77.5 cents, but it's interesting to see just how widespread the wage gap is.

Oh yeah, and Registered Nurses, an occupation that is often stereotyped as a woman's job, also falls under the wage gap.  Women Registered Nurses make 11% less than male Registered Nurses.  Interesting.

Just some food for thought.  Hope you enjoy the graph!