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Salary gap hits female college graduates

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by Jessi Polsky

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Men are paid more than women immediately following college graduation, according to a report released April 20.

The salary gap between genders, according to the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, increases over the span of an entire career.

According to the report, women earn only 80 percent as much as their male colleagues one year out of college. And women fall further behind their male counterparts 10 years after graduation, the report said, earning only 69 percent as much as men.

The report also found that the salary gap between genders begins when students choose their majors, with women often concentrating in professions that traditionally earn lower salaries — such as education, health and psychology.

Comparatively, the report found male students "dominate the higher paying fields" — engineering, mathematics and physical sciences.

Steven Schroeder, director of the Business School Career Center at the University of Wisconsin, said that men were historically encouraged to take math and science classes more than women — but added that stigma is beginning to change.

"It used to be that men went into math and science, [but] this is a generalization that is starting to change," Schroeder said.

Kathy Prem, assistant director of the UW Engineering Career Services office, said the gap in earnings between genders might be due to a lack of opportunities for women when they obtained entry-level jobs.

"The same opportunities for women that are available now weren't available 30 years ago," Prem said.

Schroeder said between 40 and 45 percent of students in the Business School are female.

He added there is no perceivable difference between salary offers for men and women graduating from the UW Business School.

"There is not a conscious or deliberate attempt of most of our companies to pay less," Schroeder said. "An accounting firm is not going to make an offer that is less just because they are giving it to a woman."

Schroeder said students often discuss their salary offers with each other, so female students would know if their offers were continuously lower than their male peers' offers.

"We don't see [a gap] with 21-, 22- and 23-year-olds," Schroeder said. "There is more of a level playing field for college graduates than there is after 10, 20 or 30 years."

Despite the similarities in entry-level offers for students in the same major, Schroeder said males dominate actuarial science — a major that has one of the highest starting salaries.

"There is double the number of men in actuarial science than there are females," Schroeder said. "That's a considerable number."

Schroeder added that marketing — a major with more women than men — has the lowest entry-level salary.

Schroeder added women should be making the same amount of money as men, saying that, despite some progress in pay equity, "We've got a long way to go in terms of gender equality."

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Anonymous (April 25, 2007 @ 2:27pm):

pay equity != gender equality

Even though some jobs have the same title, the actually responsibilities may be different, hence the salary inequity. Also, women tend not to aggressively negotiate their salaries.

One reason for this is that women get used to being spoon fed their choices, especially in educational institutions.

Check out this news article on why women are fleeing the IT industry.
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/21/0022220

Anonymous (April 25, 2007 @ 2:39pm):

What about the thought that maybe female-dominated professions are also undervalued? Why do engineers make so much more than psychologists? I don't see any reason to concentrate on pushing more women into math and science rather than finding ways to increase the economic benefits for teachers and nurses. Both courses of action seem important.

Anonymous (April 26, 2007 @ 11:42am):

"The report also found that the salary gap between genders begins when students choose their majors, with women often concentrating in professions that traditionally earn lower salaries -- such as education, health and psychology."

Enough said. Sexism isn't a factor.

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