The gender pay gap is defined as, “The difference in average earnings between men and women.” While this definition can seem outdated in 2025, the reality is that the gender pay gap has persisted throughout the centuries, and has made slow progress in its ending.
It’s now 2025, and women make up almost half of the U.S workforce. They’ve broken barriers in science, politics and business. Yet, worldwide, women still earn less on average than men doing the same work. The gender pay gap has narrowed over time through federal acts like the Equal Pay Act of 1963 or the California Fair Pay Act of 2015, which eliminated wage discrimination based on gender and slowed the progression of the gap. Yet, over 60 years later, women working full-time in the workforce earn around 85 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to the Pew Research Center, and that number drops even lower for women of color.
In 2025, “Women have median weekly earnings of $1,083, or 83.2 percent of the $1,302 median for men,” says an article from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Despite more women earning college degrees and entering the workforce, the gender pay gap persists in society through discrimination against women. The laws have changed, but habits, societal expectations and cultural bias against women have not.
“I had women come in to my Women’s Studies class to talk about the workforce- one was an engineer, another was public relations, and they said that the reason they were commonly passed over for promotions was that they didn’t “go out with the boys and have drinks after work, or golf together on Saturdays”. This cultural norm hurt their path to success.” says Jessica Jacobs, a social science teacher at Truckee High School.
Elements like the Pink Tax are an example of how gender-based discrimination affects the gender pay gap for women. The Pink Tax describes companies marketing more expensive products and services to women, and cheaper items to men. Cultural financial burdens like this often pile up, and the consistent systemic gender discrimination against women keeps these burdens from falling.
The gender pay gap also persists through subtle, but impactful ways. For example, the “Motherhood Penalty”, or the lower wages and fewer career advancement opportunities working mothers face, affects what many women can choose and gain from work. They are more likely to work in lower-paying industries, and face penalties for maternity leave.
“If we wanted to help women today, we would offer paid maternity leave across the board! Make it a requirement at the federal level.” says Jacobs, “Unfortunately, women are still seen as the primary caregivers so they are expected to pick up the “extra” slack in regards to the family unit. It is not that they are necessarily paid less, however they “work” more than their male counterparts.”
The result of all these gender stereotyped and discrimination based factors is smaller paychecks that add up over a lifetime — and a lasting inequality that peaks through the gaps of society and affects women’s savings, housing and retirement.
However, for Gen Z, the silence around the gender pay gap is beginning to fade as younger generations are shifting their reactions toward this imbalance. Young people are starting to question why a “small gap” is even acceptable at all.
“Younger generations are pushing for pay transparency – the practice of openly sharing salary with others – with viral tweets, memes and TikTok accounts.” according to an article from BBC. This awareness and use of social media to spread the ideals of fixing the gender pay gap may be what finally pushes the issue from conversation to real change.
The gender pay gap may seem like an old issue: something from your history textbook, but its persistence makes it a current issue. And the next generation isn’t demanding special treatment— just for fairness to be finally reached. As Gen Z enters the workforce, many are not willing to accept outdated excuses for inequality. So if our developing society believes in pay equity, it is time our paychecks reflect it too.
