U.S.

Women, Men And Money

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 15, 2001 / 11:14 AM EST / CBS

Although nearly as many women as men have college degrees, men still far outnumber women in higher-income jobs.

That's according to the Census Bureau, which says estimates show 13 percent of full-time, year-round working men age 15 and older - 7.5 million workers - earned more than $75,000 a year, compared with 4 percent of women - or 1.5 million - in the same category.

The data in Thursday's report were not from the 2000 census, but from a separate annual survey taken last March.

A gap also existed among those earning $50,000 to $74,999 a year: nearly 19 percent of men, compared with 9 percent of women.

Even though educational attainment is comparable, the figures show that women "have a long way to go before income equality happens," said Kirsten Ross, founder of Womans-Work, LLC, which helps women find alternative arrangements to balance job responsibilities with family.

About 24 percent of women age 25 and over - or 21.6 million women - had at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 28 percent of men, or 23.3 million. The percentage of women and men with at least a high school diploma was equal - 84 percent.

Ross said while there have been some improvements, male-dominated corporate hierarchies must still be more flexible with women - especially those in executive and managerial roles - who leave to have a baby, and then return.

"As women in general begin to look for life balance, there are still misguided stereotypes that if you want life balance you can't have it," she said.

Pay equality has been a hot button issue for years, with advocates putting forth a variety of arguments in its favor.

The AFL-CIO, in its campaign to close the gender gap, makes the argument that women's pay "isn't just a women's issue."

On its Equal Pay for Women Web site, the union group points out that "64 percent of working women in the AFL-CIO's 1997 Ask A Working Woman survey said they provide half or more of their family's income. When women get equal pay, their family incomes rise and the whole family benefits."

The AFL-CIO argues that the drive for equal pay helps men, too, because men in jobs usually held by women often wind up making the same unfair low wages typical of occupations whose workers are predominately female.

Advocates for the elderly have also spoken out on the gender gap issue, pointing to statistics showing that the lower wages many women earn throughout their lifetime can add up to poverty once their earning years are over.