Editorials

If you're a woman in the United States, employment opportunities now seem as boundless as one's imagination.

Women are routinely hired for and promoted into jobs traditionally seen as the exclusive domain of men. Female managers and female CEOs and female company presidents have long been commonplace in America. Women have a long history of excellence in elected leadership. For the first time, the Speaker of the House is a woman; our next president might be, too.

But a new study has lanced the dark underbelly of American gender discrimination: If you're a woman in the United States, you still may not make as much money as a man — even if you perform the same job.

The statistics are as harsh as they are sad. According to the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, women who are 10 years out of college earn only 69 percent of men's salaries. When statisticians account for all types of variables — including parenthood and hours worked — the wage gap between men and women remains at 75 percent.

It gets worse. The study found that as women advance through their careers, the wage gap increases. Why? “Employers assume that young women are going to leave the work force when they have children, and, therefore, don't promote them,” said Catherine Hill, the organization's director of research.

That women historically have posted slightly higher grade-point averages than men in all college majors and still receive lower pay for equal work only makes the discrimination more inflammatory. The WAGE Project (www.wageproject.org) reports that women lose between $700,000 (high school graduates) and $2 million (graduate school degrees) because of the wage gap.

And that wage gap not only affects women, it affects the large number of American families that depend on having two wage-earners in order to survive.

Translation: Women are penalized for being women.

Clearly, discrimination can come in many forms — race, gender and age being at the top of the list. But discrimination also can be subtle, which often masks its existence but does not mask its inherent unfairness.

We've long known that gender discrimination in the workplace exists, but this new study puts a 21st-century update on a problem we'd hoped had begun to dissipate.

Considering how Washington lawmakers are so concerned about the exorbitant pay of America's CEOs, and considering the Paycheck Fairness Act that's before Congress this spring, now would be a good time for Capitol Hill to give more than lip service to seeking an end to this type of discrimination. In this case, as in all others, equality is good for everyone.