All these studies showing that women make 59c on the male dollar (actually, it's long since been raised to 74c on the male dollar) are comparing apples to oranges. What the studies are saying is that any woman with a job makes less on average than any man with a job (not that women make less than men for the same job)! The problem, then, is not some grand cosmic conspiracy to pay women less than men but, rather, it is a problem of figuring out how to socialize women to go for the higher-paying jobs.