There's Still a Wage Gap And It's on the Rise

Ever since women made a major entrance into the work force, our wages have been less than our male peers. Still, the income gap between men and women has been steadily shrinking over the past few decades.

This year, however, that progress seems to have stalled. The average full-time male worker brought in $889/week in the third quarter of this year. That marks a 2.2% increase over the prior year. Women were at $721, up only 0.8% over last year, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

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The wage gap is definitely a concern for women in relationships with other women. Our combined income won’t equal that of an opposite-sex couple, on average, although there is some good (?) news: a woman in a same-sex relationship makes more money than a woman in an opposite-sex one.

On average, for every dollar earned by a man in a relationship with a woman, his female partner earns 63 cents. A woman in a same-sex relationship earn 79 cents to that man’s dollar, according to the Center for American Progress, which analyzed the data from a 2013 report by The Williams Institute.

Gender roles, and our freedom to shun them, are likely a primary factor behind this discrepancy. There’s no expectation that someone will become a stay-at-home wife/mom, and both women are likely to continue their career. Additionally, any children we have are planned for, which gives us time to prepare.

Despite all this, it is still troubling that progress has paused. Let’s hope this quarter is an anomaly instead of a trend.