The gap persists because women take time off to have children.

Bennett: Women’s compensation does often suffer when they return to work after having children. But even in their first year out of college, childless women earn 93 percent of what their male peers do, even if they had a similar G.P.A. and were working in the same fields.

Women get paid less because they have less education.

Bennett: Actually, more women than men have earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees since the 1980s. And for the past 10 or so years, they have also earned more doctoral degrees.

Women don’t get paid well because they don’t negotiate well.

Bennett: That has long been a factor in the pay gap. But a 2018 study, published in the Harvard Business Review found that — perhaps as a result of all that talk about women not negotiating — women are asking for raises as often as men, though they are less likely to get them. Maybe in part because when women ask, they can be perceived as “demanding.” (Remember that essay that Jennifer Lawrence wrote, about not getting paid as much as her male co-stars? She said she “didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’”)

O.K., but we’re on our way to closing the gap, right?



Bennett: If you consider the year 2059 soon, sure. That’s how long it will take in the United States, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, at the current pace of change.

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By the numbers

Here are some more figures you might want to know:

80 Cents

That’s the median amount that American women who work full time, year-round in the United States are paid for every dollar their male counterparts earn, according to U.S. census data analyzed by the American Association of University Women. When broken down by race and compared with white men, the numbers are:

85 cents: The amount for Asian women

77 cents: The amount for white women

61 cents: The amount for black women

58 cents: The amount for Native American women

53 cents: The amount for Hispanic women

$10,169

That’s how much the pay gap costs American women each year, according to the National Women’s Law Center, which based the figure on the difference between women’s and men’s median annual earnings for full-time, year-round workers. Over the course of a 40-year career, that amounts to $403,440.

1 in 3

That’s the number of Americans who are unaware of the wage gap, according to research by LeanIn.org. Congrats! You’re no longer one of them.

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What else is happening

Here are five articles from The Times you might have missed.