It Is No Secret Why

Jobs where women dominate will always be paid less because of the failure by the public and especially labor force "experts" to understand the reason why female-dominated fields are denigrated pay wise. It is a fact all across the board in all fields and it has nothing to do with skills, education, experience, or perceived notions of women''s labor force participation (they simply don't pop in and out of the labor force for years at a time to have kids anymore). It has to do with the notion women are dependents and men are providers. Men's pay has always, always been inflated in relation to what women made because they received a subsidy of sorts called a "family wage." Entire fields were barred to women because of it, and the fields women were "allowed" to work in were denigrated in pay. Women were and are seen as not needing the money the way men do because they were already supported by husbands. Or would be.

When men come to dominate a field, the pay goes up. When they don't, the pay goes down. What else could it be than the notion that if a worker has a dick (and white skin), he deserves more money because he has a "family to support"? No other explanation has ever made sense to explain not just the denigration of so-called "women's fields," but also the pay disparity in the same fields. Any other explanation is patently dishonest. Women's labor force participation is far, far different now than fifty or sixty years ago when women often worked part time and popped in and out of the labor force once they had children. Women simply can't afford to do this to any great degree today. The pay gap, however, is still there. It is pretty obvious why. The ONLY reason there has been any narrowing of the pay gap is because men's pay has declined thanks to outsourcing, the gutting of unions, and ruinous trade agreements over the past 40 years, not because women are making huge pay.

So this isn't a surprise at all.  The problem is exacerbated by wage cuts to public sector employees over that period of time: