Women’s Economic

In 2007, women's median annual paychecks reflected only 78 cents for every $1.00 earned by men. Mostly for women of color, the gap is even bigger when it comes to men's dollar; African American women earn only 69 cents and Latinas just 59 cents. Women's median pay was less than men's in each and every one of the 20 industries and 25 occupation groups surveyed by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007. Even men working in female-dominated occupations tend to earn more than women working in those same jobs. According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, if equal pay for women were instituted immediately, across the board, it would result in $319 billion gain nationally for women and their families in 2008 dollars. Over a women’s working life, a normal woman could expect to gain a total of $210,000 in additional income if equal pay were the norm and this numbers include part-time workers. A study by the American Association of University Women look at how the wage gap affects college graduates. Shortly after college graduation, when women and men should be on a level playing field there not. One year after graduating college, women are paid on average only 80 percent of their male coworker wages and during the next 10 years women's wages fall even lower behind dropping to only 69 percent of men's earnings ten years after college. According to the AAUW report even after controlling for hours, jobs, having kids, and other things normally associated with pay, college-educated women still earn less than their male peers earn. A large part of the gender pay gap is not explained by women's choices or how they act. Women still are segregated into jobs for women jobs that affect their wages according to an AAUW research. Their analysis of Department of Education data found women overwhelmingly clustered in low-wage, low-skill fields. Also the research showed women include