My daughter started her senior year of high school this fall. With college fast approaching, I’ve had some fun discussions with her and family friends about future professions. One thing keeps coming up: It’s the 21st century, and our daughters may still earn less than men for doing the same work.

When my daughter graduates from college, the odds are high that the situation will not have changed much. But while there are many things we can’t fix in this world, but pay inequality ought not to be one of them. And we can start by learning to talk about it in an open and honest way.

One recent development in this issue came from the Gap, which shared their internal pay breakdown. It’s a surprise move for a Fortune 500 company, but the numbers show Gap pays men and women in the same jobs equally. In a company where almost half the executives are women, it’s a big deal. It raises an interesting question. Why don’t more companies make the same disclosures?

I suspect it comes down to something simple: There’s no real consequence if they don’t.

We’ve all been taught it’s not polite to talk about what we earn, so the word doesn’t spread. Also, employees are strongly discouraged from talking with each other about what they earn. Some companies will even threaten termination if employees reveal salary, even though they can’t legally bar you from doing so. If people can’t talk about what they make without fear of retaliation, it’s very difficult to learn about company pay policies.