Quote Originally Posted by inumbra View Post
and that right there is discrimination. you don't know when hiring someone how long that person will stay. to make assumptions based upon gender and if that person has kids is discriminatory. really your post is kind of saying that employers find it more convenient to employ men with kids than women with kids. of course this will create a perpetuating cycle. in a couple, the parent earning more money will probably be the one who keeps the consistent f/t job. if it's possible for one of them to work less, the lower earning parent may then spend more time with the kids doing the domestic work. this lower paid parent is usually the mother.
They don't really have to make any assumptions at all for the pay gap to exist. Married women with children work far fewer hours. This lowers their salary quite a bit. If you have the fewer hours being worked, or breaks being taken for childcare or whatever, they will be less likely to get raises in salary. While I'm not saying that legitimate discrimination doesn't exist in the workforce, because it probably does.... you don't need discrimination to get a pay gap. It's just common sense and practical for business owners.