Gender Gap

Being a woman myself, I wanted to explore the gender differences between men and women in the workplace. Although gender is a determent for many things (such as hiring possibilities and income), for both men and women, my main focus is on the gender gap of income earned between men and women. I found an interesting statistic that exemplifies both gender inequality and a little bit of institutional discrimination. The statistic reads as follows:

"At every given level of job satisfaction, the typical man earns more than the typical woman. In fact, the most professionally satisfied women earn about as much as the least professionally satisfied men (men who say they “hate” their jobs), with both groups earning salaries in the low $50,000s." I found this statistic to be right on course with what we learned in class, that overall, women make less than men (even doing the same job) causing the gender gap in pay. It is relevant proof that women and men are not equal in the workplace and this is both an example of inequality and discrimination based on gender. But I chose this statistic because it dives a little deeper and makes you wonder why are women satisfied at a lower level than men? Is it because we are used to it? Or our outside life influences it? I'm sure there are many factors as to why the gender gap still exists, but this could be an interesting insight as to why also.  

(I got the statistic/picture from Rampell, Catherine. The New York Times, "Money, Gender, and Job Satisfaction." 18 Nov 2009.)