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Introduction

The gender pay gap refers to any disparity in earnings between men and women.

Conservative Perspective

Gender pay gap movement in the UK.

Conservatives argue that the gender wage gap is effectively a myth in most of the West as of the 21st century. The often-cited “women make 78 cents to the dollar” statistic doesn’t factor in considerations such as job choices or hours worked.  

The gender pay gap is largely attributed to individual choices, such as career preferences, work-life balance decisions, and educational pursuits. Women’s career choices, I.e. often opting for occupations with lower pay, contribute to the perceived gap in earnings between genders (e.g. opting to be a teacher rather than a plumber)  Payscale, an organization that tracks compensation information, found that when accounting for factors such as job title, experience, industry, and hours worked, the gender pay gap virtually disappeared, with women earning $0.99 for every $1 earned by their male counterparts. 

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