Women's pay gap begins right after college

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/women-pay-gap-student-debt_n_2008484.html


As we have read about in this class,  women make about 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. This article relates to how this pay gap differs when only looking at men and women how graduated college. Unfortunately, within one year of finishing college women make 82 cents to their male peers who graduated within a year. Also, women are less likely then men to find full time employment within one year of graduating.
As we have talked about, this pay gap affects women in many ways. When specifically looking at college graduates we can see yet another burden this puts on women. Because college tuition is a set price at universities, women and men have to pay the same amount to attend the same school. After graduation men and women typically have the same amount of student debt and loans to pay back.. However these loans become much more of a burden for women and it will take much longer to pay off due to the wage gap.
But what causes this wage gap with graduates? This article explains what is partially to blame. Typically men are attracted to science and engineering fields which typically lead to higher paychecks. Women are more likely to be in the fields of education and social sciences which typically lead to lower paychecks. Women are less likely to value their work for what it is and typically do not negotiate on salary the same way  men do. I thought this was an interesting point to make because it stretches back to those gender norms and attitude women are expected to have- vulnerability, passiveness, humbleness. It may feel wrong as a women to ask for a raise because women are brought up to be kind and docile. Men, however are expected to be more aggressive.
While a part of the pay gap can probably simple be chalked up to gender discrimination and their employer’s conscience or unconscious bias. I wonder if the bigger issue in the pay gap just goes back to the traditional gender roles. Women are excepted to be teachers, secretaries and so fourth, so that is the job they go for even though it is known those are lower salaried positions.  Women are expected to be non-aggressive but what would change if women asked for those raises like men do and women questioned their employers on salary issues? It may be difficult but sometimes that is necessary to see changes.