In my Life After Stonehill course, a course to prepare Seniors for post-grad life, we discussed salary negotiation. This conversation prompted me to think about the continuous issue of the gender wage gap.
While it is a known issue, this concept often goes unaddressed. In addition to wage gaps based on gender, there is a gap in earnings based on race, a further barrier for being able to survive and further accrue wealth.
While Richard Fry and Carolina Aragão of the Pew Research Center report that the gap has “slightly narrowed” in the U.S. over the past 20 years or so, the statistics remain significant. In 2024, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of both full- and part-time work, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned. In 2001, women earned 81% as much as men. So, while the gap has shrunk by 4% since 2001, it remains a significant issue that we should address.
 In addition, the Pew Research Center reported that the wage gap among workers 25 to 34 was smaller than the gap for workers 16 and older. In 2024, they reported that women in the first group made 95 cents for every dollar made by men in the same age group. While some might suggest that it’s “just five cents”, those five cents add up. Per hour, per day, by our yearly salaries. Women doing the same work in the same positions as their male colleagues may find themselves unable to participate in activities, pleasures, and even potential necessities of living. Especially with changes in the economy over the past year, growth in the cost of groceries, insurance, rent, and other areas, when workers receive the same salary, makes it a struggle to live within a planned budget.
 In a 2018 Netflix series, Explained, the episode “Why Women Are Paid Less” details the costs of being a woman and the struggles that come with being in a system that includes a pay gap based on identity. Former First Lady and 2016 presidential candidate Hilary Clinton states in the documentary, “You know, when you go to the store, you don’t get a women’s discount. You have to pay the same as everybody else. So, that comes out of your family income.” This quote is insightful, as it touches on how the gap, even if it is a couple of cents, makes a big impact on women’s ability to live and function in society. The documentary also details that while the typical claim of “equal pay for equal work” is based on the idea that employer discrimination is an issue, this is merely a part of the issue. While there were several factors influencing the pay gap in the 1950s and 60s, only one of these factors holds up in the equation today. The belief that women should raise children remains a main factor in why the gender gap remains today. The documentary claims that the gender pay gap is a “motherhood penalty” rather than one based entirely on gender. While women have advanced in all kinds of fields of work, the expectation that mothers remain as the main parent forces women to have both the responsibility of the work that earns them income and the work that maintains their family. While some might argue that women who want to have successful careers should not have families, it is unfair to ask women to choose between these options when the same choice would not be asked of their male counterparts.
 Even in female-dominated industries, men often make more, likely due to the expectations of women becoming mothers. In female-dominated industries, it is also typical to see men as the leaders and administrators in these fields. It is important to encourage the growth and development of women in their careers, even for those of us who hope to eventually have families. While many companies and industries are intentional about including women and supporting all of their employees, the averages we see from statistics are not totally encouraging.
 Especially as someone headed into a very stereotypically female career—education— I am very mindful about the discrepancies in pay we are still seeing today, even despite efforts to address the issue in the past. Legislation, including the Equal Pay Act of 1963, makes gender-based pay discrimination “illegal”, but these discrepancies remain present. Even with newer laws in Massachusetts specifically, surrounding the disclosure of a typical salary for a paid position, women still may face salary differences. While the “Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” seeks to address salary range transparencies for both applicants and employees at companies with 25 or more employees, the use of ranges allows for the potential gaps to continue.
I believe that as a generation, Gen Z should stand up as young workers in situations where they feel their work is not valued enough. In situations were employees at a given company begin to recognize their paychecks look different, we as a generation should seek to address these issues and hold employers accountable for creating equality for the same amount of work. As Gen Z has begun entering the workforce, comments and thoughts about Gen Z stem from the fact that we are seen as “unprofessional” and “lazy”. TikTok user @kellyintherealworld posted a video on July 13, 2025, that captures the reality of this situation. While older generations might believe these qualities to be true about Gen Z, Kelly highlights that more and more people are continuing their education and receiving more degrees. Additionally, she mentions that the resources provided to us through having the internet allow for our generation to better adjust to the workforce, through the ability to search for professional clothing to get ideas on what professional dress might look like in a given field. The creator’s background in engineering also gave insight into that older generations who do not wear a hard hat, boots, or hearing protection on a jobsite are more unprofessional than those who are dressed slightly too casual for the office. Particularly, the creator’s role as a woman in a male dominated field is particularly poignant, but the themes she states from her own work experience are ones seen across fields in relation to Gen Z.
 Overall, we should push to close the wage gap, even though it is smaller than in the past. Women add so much to so many industries, and we deserve to reap the rewards of our contributions.