“Wage gap” is a misused term. There is no gap in pay between men and women for the same job in most circumstances. If there was, that would be called an “earnings gap”. What wage gap refers to is that men ON AVERAGE make more than women ON AVERAGE. This means taking all men, from janitor to CEO, and comparing it to all women, from janitor to CEO. Men are more likely to ask for raises, work overtime, do jobs that nobody wants to do (i.e. mining, oil rigging, steel work, sewage work), and thus rise up the corporate ranks faster than women. As of such, men often hold higher paying jobs such as CEO, project supervisors, etc.

Another thing to consider is job preference based on gender. As I’ve said before, men take jobs that many do not wish to do. For women, the fields of healthcare (particularly nursing) and education are dominated by women. However, jobs fields dominated by men tend to be jobs that are riskier yet will pay more due to their increased demand. It isn’t even a gap in college attendance making up for this, as statistically, there are more women than men with college degrees.