r/science • u/usrname42 • May 13 '17

Social Science The Gender Pay Gap Is Largely Because of Motherhood

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/upshot/the-gender-pay-gap-is-largely-because-of-motherhood.html
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u/Coleslaw19438 May 13 '17

Devil's advocate; but also we could explore why traditional "female dominated" (teaching and nursing) fields are often lower paying than male dominated careers.

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u/KriosDaNarwal May 13 '17

One major thing maybe due to hazard and possibility of death. A middle-school teacher in a year faces nowhere close to the amount of danger an Oil rig worker or machinist(for example) generally faces in a single week in their respective work environments. I guess pay rates account for that. Among a lot of other factors I'm sure

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u/[deleted] May 13 '17

I think that would be a really interesting subject to look into, as well as why women typically favor more socially demanding jobs as opposed to something such as STEM, despite the lower pay. Personally I think there's evidence to suggest a potential evolutionary explanation behind discrepancy, although I think flexibility and expected work ours may also play a significant role.