Why Do People Still Believe the Myth of the Gender Wage Gap?

It isn't real. Average differences in salary between men in contrast to women are largely due to one over-riding factor: choice.
Men have different interests, due to the fact they're not like women. Men like things, women like people. Men gravitate to objects like cars, trains, planes and things that go BOOM! Women like to talk, gossip, socialise, and hence they'll wind up in careers in nursing, psychology and teaching. Men are far more analytical, and will gravitate to the (highly sought-after, and therefore highly-paid) STEM positions, and end up becoming a data analyst, statistician, or invent something that they can sell to Elon Musk.
Men have greater ambition, work longer hours, are far more willing to sacrifice their leisure time with family in order to make it to the top of the corporate ladder. Women take far more holidays, sick leave, and are FAR more likely to opt to work part-time rather than full-time.
It really is this simple. "Discrimination" has NOTHING to do with it!
I mean, come on, think about this. If it were true that women got, let's say, 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man to do the exact same job, don't you think employers would do all they could to get away with hiring only women?

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SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

Well, glad we got that one sorted out 😐

The gender wage gap is the differential in wages between women and men doing the same job. I like to talk and socialise, but funnily enough I ended up working in financial services (conversely my wife hates socialising but went into nursing).

It was difficult to gain a first footing on my career ladder, then difficult to get anyone in a male-dominated industry to take me seriously, primarily because of my gender. I have changed jobs about three times as frequently as my male contemporaries, simply to make standard career progress. All of this has impacted negatively on my pay.

It is only since I started developing my own statistical modelling (then hired myself back to the market as a freelance) that I have gained reward appropriate to my skills and efforts.

FormerAtheist · 26-30

@SunshineGirl Of course there will be those who don't quite fit into this neat little picture, but on average, all other considerations aside, what I've written here is generally true. And yes, the gender wage gap would be real if it were the case that, again on average and across most fields, men and women were not paid equally to do the exact same job. But of course if that were the case, then employers would be insane to not hire only women; they're CHEAPER!

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@FormerAtheist The wage gap is an objective reality. Larger organisations in the UK are obliged by law to publish these statistics and commit to mitigation strategies.

If people and organisations acted rationally all the time there would be no discrimination in the first place. Unfortunately recruiters and employers are naturally biased towards people who look, think and act like them, and promote those who are less likely to challenge their authority or disrupt established practice.