There is an old wives’ tale (pardon the phrase) that says that women make approximately 75% of what men do when both sexes work in the same jobs (which is pretty much a universal thing these days). And while women often do make between 80 and 95 cents on a man’s dollar, there is a variable that a lot of people never really consider when it comes to the income discrepancy. After all, a woman may end up taking as much as a four year break from her career, just to bear and rear her children, whereas paternity leave (which is in itself a fairly new practice) is often as little as a few days. For all of the gender equality the feminists have fought for and won, there are still some subconscious expectations from which neither gender has completely escaped.
A man is still expected to provide for his family, and not just in an emotionally nurturing kind of way. When it comes down to earning cold, hard cash, a man is still expected to be the bread winner in this society, no matter what anyone may say in public. After all, how often does a man take six months away from work, in order to take care of his children? It is almost unheard of for such a thing to happen.
However, a woman will often do just that. And in many cases, a woman who has a child and takes off for maternity leave may decide that she would rather either work from home, or simply stop working until the children reach a certain age. Six months can easily turn into a year, which can then subsequently turn into three or four years. In some cases, the larger part of a decade may pass before she decides to go back to work. If she decided to continue working not have kids (or delay them), the income gap would not exist at all.