Wage disparity between males and females is both traditional and labor-based economic supply and demand. Statistics show past and current discrepancies in lower pay for women. Diane White made a 1997 presentation to the United Nations General Assembly stated that "Today the wage disparity gap cost American women \(\$ 250,000\) over the course of their lives." \({ }^{15}\) Indeed evidence supports her claim that women are paid less in comparison to men and their cumulated losses add up to staggering figures. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2008 that U.S. women earn 77 cents for every U.S. man's \(\$ 1 .^{16}\) They also reported that in some places like Washington DC and in certain fields (like computers and mathematical) women earn as much as 98 cents per a man's \(\$ 1\). At the worldwide level "As employees, women are still seeking equal pay with men. Closing the gap between women's and men's pay continues to be a major challenge in most parts of the world." \({ }^{17}\)
The report also discussed the fact that about 60 countries have begun to keep statistics on informal (unpaid) work by women. Needless to say even though measuring paid and unpaid work of women is not as accurate as needed for world considerations, "Women contribute to development not only through remunerated work but also through a great deal of unremunerated work." \({ }^{18}\)
Why the lower wages for women? The traditional definition of the reproductive roles of women as being broken, diseased, or flawed is part of the answer of wage disparity. The idea that reproductive roles interfere with the continuity of the workplace and the idea that women cannot be depended on plays heavily into the maltreatment of women. The argument can be made that traditional and economic factors have lead to the existing patterns of paying women less for their same education, experience, and efforts compared to men.
Efforts to provide formal education to females worldwide have escalated over the last few decades. The 2002 Kids Count International Data Sheet estimated rates as low as 11 percent of females in primary school in Somalia. \({ }^{19}\) A 1993 World Bank report made it very clear that females throughout the world were being neglected in receiving their formal educations when compared to males. \({ }^{20}\) In 1998 another example is found in efforts specific to Africa via the Forum of African Women Educationalists which focuses on governmental policies and practices for female education across the continent. \({ }^{21}\) Literally hundreds of studies have since focused on other regions around and below the equator where education levels for females are much lower.
In 1999 it was reported by UNICEF that 1 billion people would never learn to read as children with 130 million school aged children (73 million girls) without access to basic education. \({ }^{22}\) Another UNICEF 2008 report clearly identifies the importance of educating girls who grow up to be mothers because of the tremendous odds that those educated mothers will ensure that their children are also formally educated. \({ }^{23}\) In its statistical tables it shows that Somalia is now up to 22 percent for boys and girls in primary schools, yet in most countries females are still less likely to be educated. \({ }^{24}\) The main point from UNICEF and many other formal reports is that higher formal education for females is associated with life, health, protection from crime and sexual exploitation, and countless other benefits, especially to females in the poorer regions of the world. In the United States most females and males attend some form of formal education. After high school, many go to college. Even though the U.S. numbers of 18 to 24 year old men are higher than women, \({ }^{25}\) women are more likely to attend college based on percentages (57\%). \({ }^{26}\)
A projection from the National Center for Education Statistics projects a continuing trend up and through the year 2016 where about \(58 \%\) of U.S. college students will be female. \({ }^{27}\) By 2016 about \(60 \%\) of graduated students will be females. \({ }^{28}\) These numbers reflect a strong and concerted push toward equality of opportunity for females in formal education that does date back over a century. The challenge is to avoid defining progress for U.S. females in public and private education as having been made at the expense of males. That's much too simplistic.
They also reflect a change in the culture of breadwinning and the adult roles of males. Males and/or females who don't pursue a college degree will make less money than those who did. To make sense of this trend, many males have been identified as having a prolonged adolescence (even into their 30 's); video game playing mentality; and a live with your parents indefinitely strategy until their shot at the labor force has passed them by. Others have pointed out the higher rates of learning disabilities in K-12, the relatively low percentage of K-5 teachers who are males, and the higher rate of male dropouts. Still others blame attention deficit and hyperactivity as part of the problem. Here is a truism about education in the U.S.
Higher education=higher pay=higher social prestige=higher income=higher quality of life.
Many countries of the world have neutralized the traditional, religious, and labor-force based biases against women and have moved to a merit-based system. Even in the U.S., there have been "men's wages, then women and children's wages ( \(1 / 10\) th to \(12 / 3\) rd of a man's). In a sense, any hard working, talented person can pursue and obtain a high-end job, including women. Communism broke some of these barriers early on in the 20th century, but the relatively low wages afforded those pursuing these careers somewhat offset the advances women could have made. In the U.S. progress has come more slowly. Physicians are some of the brightest and best paid specialists in the world. Salaries tend to begin in the \(\$ 100,000\) range and can easily reach \(\$ 500,000\) depending on the specialty. \({ }^{29}\) Prior to 1970 most physicians were white and male, but things are slowly changing. Table 4 shows the trends between 1970 and 2006.
Table \(\PageIndex{1}\):.Percentage of Physicians who are Male and Female.30
Year
Male
Female
1970
92.40
7.60
1980
88.40
11.60
1990
83.10
16.90
2000
76.30
24.00
2002
74.80
25.20
2003
74.20
25.80
2006
72.20
27.80
The upward trend shows a concerted effort to provide equal opportunity for females and males. Engineers have also seen a concerted effort to facilitate females into the profession. The Society of Women Engineers is a non-profit organization which helps support and recognize women as engineers. \({ }^{31}\)
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Women in High Tech Jobs.33Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): United States Doctorates Conferred By Characteristics of Recipients, 2005.34
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\) shows how computer-based careers are seeing striking gains in some areas for women who will be hired competitively based on merit. The same cannot be said for doctoral level employment in the more prestigious fields. Figure 2 shows 2005 estimates from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The first six fields are the highest paying fields to work in while social and psychological sciences are among the least paying. Women clearly dominate Psychology and nearly tie in social sciences and biology. True, at the doctoral level pay is higher than at the masters and bachelors levels, but the difference in engineering and psychology is remarkable at every level of education.32
19. see Subbarro, K. and Raney, L. 1993, “Social Gains from Female Education: A CrossNational Study” World Bank Discussion Papers 194; retrived from Eric ED 363542 on 8 December, 2008
