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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BizSuitStacy · M

Stirring up the hornets nest? 😂
A female friend of mine is an HR director, and she actually speaks to women's groups about this issue. A huge factor is that women aren't as aggressive in salary negotiations as men. Motherhood is another factor, leading to taking more part-time jobs, which skews the numbers.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@BizSuitStacy Why should a job done part time automatically pay less pro-rata than the same role full time? If the employee is meeting the same standards and productivity targets (and part-timers invariably put in more hours than they are officially paid for to keep on top of learning and regulations that cannot be split neatly) as their fulltime equivalent, why shoukd they not be paid at the same rate and at least given the opportunity to be considered for promotion?

BizSuitStacy · M

@SunshineGirl hence the hornets nest comment. I never said women shouldn't make the same rate for the same work. Part of the issue is obfuscated by mixing in part time earnings with those full-timers - which is deceitful. If you want to understand why women make less than men for the exact same job, then refer back to the first comment about negotiating wages.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@BizSuitStacy It is part of the overall picture. Women are more likely than men to require part time hours at some point in their career. Part time contracts are too often seen by management as a way of parking dead end roles rather than assisting a woman who might want to start a family without completely abandoning her ambitions.

Many roles commonly filled by women (particularly in the public sector) will have no element of wage negotiation.

BizSuitStacy · M

@SunshineGirl every job has wage negotiation potential...dismissing that is a huge part of the issue.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@BizSuitStacy Not in the public sector. There is a narrow wage range for each job. You start at the bottom while you are training and progress to the top when you are proficient.

BizSuitStacy · M

@SunshineGirl who the hell wants to work in the public sector? Odd too, since that's where the unfair narrative always comes from.