There are male dominated industries, and there are female dominated industries, not a problem really...

The issue is that female dominated industries tend to be more lowly paid than male dominated ones. Nursing and teaching are relevant examples. There are, of course, male nurses and male teachers, but as a general rule, these are female dominated industries and we as a society do not adequately value the contribution that these sectors make.

Until we as a society start to value our nurses, teachers, and any other typically female dominated industry more equitably, then we will continue to have a problem with wage inequality.

And the thing we have to realise is that women don't necessarily choose these areas because of some inherent female trait - it may simply be because these typically female dominated industries offer greater flexibility around family and child care.

Then, you have to factor in the economic reality that it is more often economically sensible for a woman to give up her more lowly paid role to take on care of children or aging relatives, not because of an inherent female instinct, simply because it makes economic sense for her to do it rather than her more highly paid partner.

And to reference an earlier comment - why do we pay our plumbers so much for cleaning out our toilets when our (mostly women) carers are the ones wiping the arses of our elderly. You are never going to convince me that women have an aversion to poo - their contribution is simply not valued as highly.

Oh dear, talk about put your foot in it.

Unfortunately Jocelynne, you have proved exactly the opposite to what you set out to.

Yes, the girls are doing better in school.

Yes they fail to thrive once they get out into the big nasty world.

Yes there is an area of exception, & that is the education sector.

So what have you proved? Only that this female controlled education sector has gone off the rails.

Education & assessment has been heavily biased toward female strengths to such an extent that the results no longer attempt to represent a true assessment of a students ability.

Once the female student is asked to perform in a real world situation their true ability surfaces, & they are found to be unable to achieve to the level that school & university assessment would suggest they should.

What needs to be corrected is the assessment system, so our girls are not led to believe they are capable of things beyond them.

This may reduce the likelihood of them writing articles that prove to be not only biased, but wrong.

Hasbeen:”What needs to be corrected is the assessment system, so our girls are not led to believe they are capable of things beyond them.”

Like what things?

Convoluted rationalizations.

In Lying in Ones Own room, Christine Stolba gives examples of how twisted logic is used to turn logic into gobbly goop, and then reach a prearranged conclusion.

Hasbeen,

"...they fail to thrive once they get out into the big nasty world."

What is your definition of "thriving" in the big nasty world?

And what do you know about how women assess their level of satisfaction in our society?
Do you know, or do you just assume that women measure their satisfaction using the same criteria as men?

"Thriving" by whose definition. If you are judging purely within an economic growthist/consumerism perspective it narrows the field.

Girls are not 'led to believe' anything only that they are able to access job opportunities in the same way that boys are able, many girls and boys will not be suitable for some professions and jobs if they do not possess the requisite talents and abilities - nothing to do with gender.

Women also possess a womb which means they have the babies. This generally means some women will choose to stay at home for some period of time interrupting career aspirations for a while. This is not a failure to 'thrive'. This is women making choices. Isn't that what the feminist movement was about.

Saoirse
Good points. Traditionally female dominated professions have earned less, partly due to a catch-up lag from when men were the dominant bread winners. Male dominated professions were also more heavily unionised. Bus drivers are a good example of where high salaries can be compared with, for example, the lower pay of nurses. Those in caring positions generally tend not to strike unless a last resort or in a staggered approach never leaving duties completely unattended.

The nursing profession has attracted better pay in recent years due to the failure to attract students or to retain trained personnel. It is a shame that there is not more forethought and adjustments made before skills shortages rather than coming at it from a fix-up perspective, which in the long run costs more.