New Report Finds That Women Lose $500 Billion Every Year Due to Unequal Wages

The American Association of University Women recently released the report, The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap, that found working women collectively lose out on $500 billion a year because of the persistent gender pay gap. This persistent wage gap shows that women are paid only 80 cents, on average, for every dollar paid to a man.

According to the research, the jobs with the biggest collective gender gap are financial managers ($19.6 billion, 65 percent pay ratio), physicians and surgeons ($19.5 million, 71 percent pay ratio), accountants and auditors ($17.3 million, 78 percent pay ratio), first-line supervisors of retail sales workers ($14.8 billion, 74 percent pay ratio), and registered nurses ($12.5 billion, 92 percent pay ratio).

The only gap favoring women among the 114 occupations analyzed by the AAUW was among wholesale and retail buyers where women were paid $235 million more than men. The professions with the smallest gaps favoring men were food preparation and service works ($26 million, 99 percent pay ratio), writers and authors ($76 million, 98 percent pay ratio), and pharmacists ($253 million, 98 percent pay ratio).

“While the nation’s unemployment rate is down, and the number of women working is up, the wage gap is sadly remaining stagnant,” said Kim Churches, chief executive officer of AAUW. “It’s unacceptable. There is no gender differentiation when it comes to quality, skills, and talent.”

In an effort to combat the gender pay gap, the association is launching WorkSmart Online, a free-one hour course designed to train women in salary negotiation skills. This is the newest feature of AAUW’s goal to train 10 million women in salary negotiation by 2022. The association believes that these skills are crucial to closing the gender pay gap.