And while that statistic is factually correct, there’s a lot it doesn’t tell you.

而在這個真實統計數字的背後，還有許多你不知道的事實。

It simply compares the median wages of men and women who work full time.

這個數字只有顯示出男女性全時工作的中等薪資，

It doesn’t tell you how the wage gap plays out for women with different educational levels or different ages, or who work in different fields.

卻沒有告訴你不同教育程度、年齡或是工作領域中女性的薪資差距。

And you need that information if you want to start closing the wage gap.

而當你想要縮短這些差距時，你必須要知道這個資訊。

Part of the wage gap reflects the fact that women are concentrated in lower-paying occupations.

部分的薪資差距反映出女性多半得到較低薪資工作機會的事實。

But to fully understand the issue, you have to look within occupations too.

但是為了充分了解這項議題，你同時必須深入研究各種職業。

Back in 2009, three economists set out to understand the wage gap by following a group of MBA graduates from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

回溯到 2009 年，有三個經濟學者在他們研究了一群芝加哥大學布斯商學院的 MBA 畢業生之後開始了解這個薪資落差。

They looked at thousands of men and women who graduated between 1990 and 2006.

他們觀察了數千個 1990 年到 2006 年間畢業的男性與女性。

And their data showed that men had slightly higher salaries right out of the gate.

而他們的資料顯示，剛從學校畢業的男性可以得到稍微高一點的薪資。

One year out of business school, women were making an average salary of $115,000, while men earned $130,000.

從商學院畢業後一年，女性的平均薪資為 11 萬 5 千美元，而男性則為 13 萬美元。

But nine years out of business school, things looked really different.

但是在畢業九年之後，情況會有明顯的不同，

Men were earning an average salary of $400,000 dollars, while women were earning 60 percent less, $250,000 on average.

當男性的平均薪資為 40 萬美元時，女性的平均薪資則比男性少了 60%，平均是 25萬美元，

The gap had widened considerably.

薪資差距大幅度增加。

But research suggests the gap doesn’t stay that wide, that it shrinks as women enter middle age.

但是，研究顯示，這個差距的幅度並不會維持不變，一旦女性進入中年後，薪資差距會開始縮小。

This chart shows how the wage gap for college graduates changes as women age.

這個圖表顯示了大學畢業生與女性年齡間薪資差距的變化，

The lower the line, the bigger the wage gap between men and women.

曲線越低表示男性與女性的薪資差距越大

If you look at women born in 1973, you can see the wage gap growing as they go from their mid-twenties to their mid thirties.

如果你看看 1973 年出生的女性，你可以發現從 20 多歲到 30 多歲間薪資差距的成長狀況，

Better than previous generations but heading in the same direction.

比起前幾世代好，但仍然朝著同一個方向。

Same thing for women born in 1968.

一樣的情況也發生在 1968 年出生的女性上。

The pay difference for men and women continues to grow as they move from their mid-thirties to their mid-forties.

男性與女性的薪資差異從 30 多歲到一直繼續增加到 40 多歲。

And for women born in 1948, things started off the same.

而在 1948 年出生的女性，開始時的情況都一樣，

The gap widens as they get older.

薪資差距隨這年紀增加而擴大，

But then, all of a sudden, it starts shrinking.

但是，突然之間開始縮減。

As women approach their 50s and 60s, the difference between men’s and women’s salaries gets smaller and smaller,

當職業女性到了 50 和 60 歲之後，男性與女性的薪資差距開始縮小，

which makes sense if you think about what often happens during a woman’s 20s and 30s.

這其實很合理，如果你想想 20 幾歲到 30 幾歲的女性通常會發生什麼變化。

In the Chicago MBA study, women with kids had a wage gap twice as large as women without.

在芝加哥 MBA 的研究中，有小孩的女性與沒有小孩的女性間也有極大的薪資差距。

The truth is that women still take on a disproportionate share of child-rearing tasks.

事實是，女性必須負擔絕大部分養育孩童的任務。

A survey from Pew found that in 2-parent households,

一項來自 Pew 的調查發現，在一個雙薪家庭中，

women did more than men when it came to managing kids’ schedules, taking care of them when they’re sick, and handling the majority of household chores.

女性花在照顧孩童上的時間比男性多，像是當孩子生病時照料他們，並且負擔絕大多數的家務。

And that was a survey where both parents worked full-time.

而且這項調查是針對那些父親與母親都有全職工作的家庭。

But these additional responsibilities, they seem to hurt some women more than others.

但是，這些額外的責任對某些女性的傷害似乎大於其他。

This is a really key research finding from Claudia Goldin, an economist at Harvard, who is a leading researcher on the gender wage gap.

這是一項來自哈佛研究性別薪資差距的經濟學者 Claudia Goldin 的重要調查。

She shows this by exploring how gender pay gaps vary in different fields, and this is one of her charts.

她的圖表表示不同領域中的薪資差距，這是其中一張圖表，

Each of the dots is a different higher-paying job.

上面的每一個圓點表示出不同的較高薪資的工作。

The lower the dot, the larger the gender pay gap.

圓點越低，則性別薪資差距越大，

And the further to the right, the more the job pays, based on the average income of men in that job.

越往右邊，薪資越高，這是根據男性在該項工作上的平均收入。

These green dots represent jobs in the tech sector.

綠色的圓點代表科技類的工作。

And, for the most part, the jobs are pretty close to the 0 line, meaning the difference in pay between men and women is fairly small.

當中的大部分，這項工作的數字趨近於 0，這表示男性與女性在這個領域中的薪資差距相當小。

The same is true for jobs in science. The yellow dots.

在科學類的工作上也有相同的結果，看到這些黃色的圓點。

But look at these red dots.

但是，看看這些紅色的圓點。

They represent jobs in business.

這些是表示在商業領域中的工作。

And they’re mostly clustered toward the middle and the bottom of the chart, meaning they have some of the largest wage gaps.

它們大部分都聚集在圖表的中間和下方，這表示一些最大的薪資差距。

And there’s a fairly simple way to explain some of these differences—some jobs require specific hours and others are more flexible.

有一個相當簡單的方式來解釋這些差異，某些工作要求特定的工作時間，其他的則較具有彈性。

Take your prototypical businesswoman.

找一個你心目中的女性商人的樣板，

Maybe she’s a venture capitalist, maybe she’s an accountant.

她或許是一個風險投資家，或許是一個會計師，

Either way, she has a pretty standard 9-5 schedule so she can meet with other businesspeople or with clients,

不論如何，她的工作時間是標準的朝九晚五，和其他的生意人和她的客戶一樣，

and if she’s not available to her clients when they need her, her bosses won’t think she’s doing a good job.

當她沒有辦法在客戶需要她時提供服務，她的老闆會認為她沒有把她的工作做好。

Now, compare that to a scientist who works in a lab.

與實驗室工作的科學家相比，

Most of her work is self-directed, and it doesn't really matter when she runs her experiments, as long as she gets them done.

他們的大部分工作都是由她自己主導的，在什麼時間進行實驗並不重要，重要的是她把實驗完成，

If she gets her work done, her bosses think she’s doing a good job.

如果她做到了，她的老闆就會認為她有好的工作表現。

For the millions of women in jobs that demand very specific hours, the wage gap is larger than it is for women in jobs with more flexible hours.

對於數百萬個有嚴格工作時間限制的女性，其薪資差距大於那些彈性工作時間的女性。

And there’s one job where we can see this really clearly.

有一份工作我們可以很清楚的看到這個現象。

In the 1970s, women pharmacists earned about 66 percent of what men did.

在 1970 年代，女性藥劑師的薪資大約在男性薪資的 66%

Pharmacies used to be mostly independent businesses where a single pharmacist might be responsible for keeping his shop open whenever people needed it.

以前的藥房多數是獨立營運的店面，也就是說，一個藥劑師可能需要隨時提供配藥服務。

Today, most pharmacies are owned by large chains, and they stay open longer, which means they need more pharmacists.

現今，大部分的藥房是大型連鎖店，它們的營業時間較長，也就表示需要較多的藥劑師。

Women pharmacists now have a lot more options and a 6 am to 2 pm shift is just as good as a 9 to 5 shift.

女性藥劑師現在可以有比較多的選擇，像是值早上 6 點到下午 2 點的班或是 9 點到 5 點的班，

Nobody really gets rewarded for working exceptionally long hours.

沒有人會因為所謂的超時工作而得到獎勵。

And the wage gap for pharmacists has shrunk dramatically. Today, female pharmacists make 92 percent of what their male counterparts do.

也因此藥劑師的薪資差距大幅度的縮小了，現在，女性藥劑師的薪資是男性的 92%。

Of course, we can’t all be pharmacists. There will always be jobs where it’s important to work particular hours.

當然，我們不可能都成為藥劑師，總是會有工作要求特定的工作時間限制。

But there are lots of jobs where hours could potentially become more flexible than they are right now.

但是，也有許多工作可能可以有比現在更具彈性的工時要求。

And the research tells us the more we can make that work, the more the wage gap is going to shrink.

而且研究告訴我們，如果能有更多這樣的工作，那麼薪資差距就能更加的縮小。