"Men Vs Women Pay: The Missing 23 Cents?" (Ask Dr. Salary - Payscale.com)

23 percent. That’s how much five restaurants in Oregon plan to drop their prices for female customers to raise awareness that women earn 23 percent less than men in the workplace. As reported on kgw.com, the American Association of American Women, which is sponsoring the event, says that when the new prices go into effect, 23 percent of the 2007 will have passed, thus, that's the number of extra days women will have to work in 2007 to earn what like-trained/educated men would earn.

Likewise, Senator Hillary Clinton is pushing for passage of the "Paycheck Fairness Act," a bill that would intensify anti-discrimination laws, require more data collection by the Department of Labor, create a negotiation skills training program for women and stop retaliation against employees who disclose their salaries. Sen. Clinton also says that women make 77 percent of what men earn (or 23 percent less). But is that number really accurate, could it be more or less? And more importantly, will Seattle eateries join this pricing trend? For us men who enjoy eating out, let’s hope not!

So what about the 77 cents that women reportedly earn for each dollar men make? According to money.cnn.com, this often quoted statistic sounds like women are earning less than men for the same job, but the sound-bite stat is from a 2002 study that was actually a comparison of the median earnings of all working men and women who clocked in at least 35 hours per week. It didn’t compare men and women working the same job, as rhetoric often suggests, but rather median income from any job.

According to Heidi Hartmann, president of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the wage gap "is a good measure of inequality, not necessarily a measure of discrimination…parsing out (the actual reasons for the wage gap) is difficult to do." In other words, unequal doesn’t always translate to unfair. There are many reasons (besides discrimination) why women’s median salary is less than men’s, and the reasons are often legitimate.

As reported by money.cnn.com, Warren Farrell, author of Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap – and What Women Can Do About It, says that, men are more likely to make life-decisions that will lead to a higher annual salary. He says males are more apt (than women) to relocate or travel for work, take on more dangerous jobs (over 90 percent of workplace deaths are reportedly men), work in the difficult sciences, seek jobs that require financial risk and work jobs in unpleasant environments.

In contrast, he says that "women commonly prefer jobs with shorter and more flexible hours to accommodate the demands of family. Compared to men, they generally favor jobs that involve little danger, no travel and good social skills. Such jobs generally pay less.” In women that earn over 100K, Farrell says they are more likely (than men at the same pay) to give up a portion of pay for more time with their families.

He actually suggest that women seek jobs in dangerous situations as their employers will naturally seek to protect them, thus they will not experience the same risk as men, but get paid equally high wages (err, has he ever heard of Jessica Lynch?). In some careers, Farrell says women earn more than their male counterparts, and not just in the field of modeling. Farrell says that in 39 occupations, the median earnings of women exceeded that of men's by at least 5 percent, and in some careers, up to 43 percent.

Even though the 77 percent number can be debunked, we can’t sweep discrimination against women under the rug, too many studies support this. A Cornell study found that mothers with kids would be less likely to get hired, and even if they did, the moms would be paid a lower annual salary than males and females without kids. The study also found that male applicants with kids would usually be offered a higher annual salary than non-dads and other moms.

Also, a Carnegie Mellon study found that female job applicants were less likely to be hired by male managers, if they tried to negotiate a higher salary. But on the flip side, male applicants were not less likely to be hired. And, some years ago the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that its female scientists were often paid less than male scientists, as well as given less funding space and rewards than men in the same jobs.

What about right after men and women graduate college? Those men and women should be the least likely to show a pay gap, as neither tend to be parents yet. According to a recent study by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, after one year out of college, women who are working full-time are earning 80 percent of what men earn. The study also says that ten years after graduation, women were earning 69 percent as much as men (this makes sense as more women are having families).

Like our often quoted 77 percent number, this study was based on median income from all jobs, and there was a logical reason behind the disparity. According to CNN.money.com, the study said, “Female students tended to study areas with lower pay, such as education, health and psychology, while male students dominated higher-paying fields such as engineering, mathematics and physical sciences.”

Still, one year after graduation, the study says that the pay gap also occurred between females and males who had the same major. The study says that women earned 95 percent as much as men earned education. In math positions, women earn 76 percent as much as men earn. Well, to be honest, we fellas are pretty good at math, how do you broads think I got this column?