This explanation misses the forest for the trees, every time, because it doesn't say why women are performing different jobs. The mere fact that the jobs are 'd

This explanation misses the forest for the trees, every time, because it doesn't say why women are performing different jobs. The mere fact that the jobs are 'different' means nothing when it comes to pay. The market-rate pay for 'different' jobs is not a function of some natural order. That is, there is not some free market whereby the exact value of an employee is computed by her exact output. Also, the 'different' aspect could very easily be forced: Two people could perform nearly identical functions under different job titles: call one a 'manager' and the other 'coordinator', outline that coordinator and manager have different salaries, et voilà! You've justified a gender pay gap. More interesting to understand is: Why women ask for raises less often Why men do not take parental leave at the same time as their spouses Why women are not chosen for or seek out high-risk, high-reward occupations These are only a few of the interesting questions we might ask about an apparent pay gap. I know it doesn't come up handily in a statistical analysis but the least the author could do is raise them as questions to think about.