The Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2013 reported that women made approximately $706 a week whereas men made approximately $860 a week. The top paying fields are: Medicine STEM However only 24% of people in STEM are female, and about 40% of people in medicine. The reason women don’t make more compared to today’s calculations is that they don’t participate in high-paying fields. Why does this happen? Because women are discouraged from majoring in such fields during college. They also usually don’t have a lot of experience in high school of high-level math and science which makes college-level math and science very hard for them. The average starting salary in STEM is $65000/year The average starting salary in medicine is $85000/year Fields in which most women are employed and average starting salaries Elementary/ middle school teachers - $36000/year Secretaries and Administrative assistants - $37000/year A good article to read on the problem of lack