Originally Posted by CoolMikey

I'm not sure I buy that. Pregnancy puts women out of work for perhaps 6 months top? (She can work through most of it) I doubt that 6 months work experience would make a huge difference in pay.

Another explanation is that "lower ranking" jobs are "easier" or requiring less training/education/etc so they are "easier" to get into. So women naturally gravitate towards those "easier" jobs. Men don't have that choice, because they are expected to provide for the family, so they have to grind 80 hours per week advancing their careers.

If I were a woman I would probably do exactly the same, it seems like it's 100x easier to find a man with a well paying job that will provide for you, than spending years in school then grinding 80 hours per week so you can have a well paying job yourself.