The gender wage gap in STEM careers starts early on, according to an article from Vox. A new study cited in the article indicates that women in STEM careers make 31% less than men in their first year after graduation.
Bruce Weinberg, an economist from The Ohio State University and co-author of the study, suggests two reasons for the difference in wages: the fields women choose to enter and their marital status and children. Women more frequently go into biomedical fields over higher-paying engineering or computer science or take jobs in academia and government rather than more lucrative private industry, according to the article. The study also notes that married women with children in STEM appear to earn less, although it cannot state whether they are being discriminated against for having children or choosing to accept lower paying positions that offer more work-life balance.
Read the entire article here.
