Could have told you that

Gee, a Harvard economics professor (no less) has finally figured out what causes the pay/gender gap between men and women.  Here's a bulletin, it has to do with having children.  Once women have children, they tend to seek out jobs with flexibility and predictable hours.  No kidding!  But the cost of these choices is very high for women in terms of what they earn and how they are promoted.  Is that because they aren't?

I remember having to turn down a job at the Privy Council Office because I knew I simply could not work the hours expected.  If you were not in at seven and still hanging around 12 hours later, you were a slacker.  It was difficult enough that I had to travel while my children were still young and without the support of my own parents, I could not have pulled it off. 

Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente has an interesting column today about this reality.  Today's professional women have less and less in common with lower-earning women, the latter of whom often work part-time, marry earlier, have children younger and divorce more, says Wente.  As professional women, we farm out "women's work" to nannies and cleaning ladies who used to do this work at home, for "free".  That we do because why would we jettison our hard-fought and highly-priced education to stay home?! 

Ironically, the biggest gap is not between women and men, it's between classes of women.  Afterall, says Wente, someone has to take care of the children and clean the house while we elites go to work and dream up policies to close the gender gap. 

Ha!