Interview with Bobbi Bidochka, author of Sexual Intelligence in Business. Venture Capitalist. In spite of all the advances in gender equality, women are still getting paid less than men. Bobby explains the many reasons why.

Women get paid less than men for the same job, but the highest reason for the gender pay gap is occupational segregation.

Men and women tend to be attracted to different occupations for many reasons. Some of those reasons are rational, traditional, or biological.

Here is a question for you: Among the following careers, which one do you think will be followed by a man, and which one do you think will be followed by a woman?

• Welding
• Automobile repair
• Cosmetology
• Child Care

Which job do you think pays better?

In case you didn’t guess it, welding and automobile repair generally pay more than cosmetology and child care, and those jobs are generally performed by men.

The median wage for a woman with a certificate is about $30,000 while for men is over $45,000.

What’s the solution? Do we get more women to choose the higher-paying jobs, or do we get society to pay more for the job that women prefer to do?

More women are taking traditional men’s job

I am beginning to see some changes in the kind of jobs women choose. I am beginning to see more women doing jobs that traditionally have been done by men. More than once I have seen women operating heavy construction machinery, driving heavy trucks, working as electricians, etc. I am sure that those unionized construction jobs are better paid than the fragmented cosmetology or child care industry.

Women are obtaining more degrees in higher education

I am also seeing more women than men finishing secondary education. Eventually, the pool of educated men will dry up and employers will have no other choice than to offer the kind of incentives that will attract more women; flexible hours, better work-life balance, access to daycare, a more inclusive work environment, etc. Little by little more women are creating a bigger base of labor and eventually, those women will climb their way up to upper management, with better pay and better working conditions.

Women have more role models

At one point in history, women could not see female representatives at the highest level of leadership, entrepreneurship, or athleticism. This has changed over time. Nowadays, we can see women who inspire the imagination of millions of little girls around the globe.

• Kamala Harris, US Vice President
• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
• Jacinda Ardern, Prime minister of New Zealand
• Sanna Marin, Prime minister of Finland, became Prime minister at age 34
• Serena and Venus Williams, Professional Tennis players
• Oprah Winfrey, Entrepreneur
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice.

And the list goes on and on. There are plenty of female leaders who can inspire a future generation of women to take a position of leadership in whatever field they want. The more little girls see other women in positions of leadership and power, the easier it is for them to imagine filling up those roles in the future.

Reasons of why men are still earning more

Men are more willing to work crazy hours

Let’s face it, having a high position in any field comes with many personal sacrifices, sacrifices that men are more willing to make than women. For example, Elon Musk is willing to work 120 hours per week and sleep on his factory floor.

Not every man in a high-level position works 120 hours like Elon Musk, but 70 to 80 hours is not out of the ordinary. Yes, women can work those crazy hours too, especially nurses, but in general, men are more willing to sacrifice family and social life for the sake of their jobs.

Women give birth to children and want to spend time with them

Women’s maternal instinct is so strong that they prefer to get a lower-paying job with time flexibility so that they can spend time with their kids. Men, on the other hand, are more willing to sacrifice time with the family in exchange for money and prestige.

Men are more likely to start their own businesses

Women are significantly underrepresented in entrepreneurship. Despite their strong representation in the labor market and their increasing graduation rates in higher education, women remain half as likely as men to become an entrepreneur.

Of course, most entrepreneurial ventures fail, but those that succeed can succeed at a great magnitude. Some examples are Google, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, Tesla, Cosco, Walmart, and the list goes on and on.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, had a well-paid job in a reputable Wall Street business with regular working hours. He threw it all away to start Amazon, he called it “regret minimization framework.” When you are 80 years old, what are the things you would regret not doing in life?

Men and women take different kind of risk

Finally, men are more willing to take big risks that could prove catastrophic if they fail. They are willing to break the law, lie, and exaggerate their abilities.

Uber and Airbnb expanded their empire by breaking the law. They started operating in different cities without permission. They believe in the motto that it “is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.” Or as Mark Zuckerberg puts it, you have to “move fast and break things.” Or Elon Musk saying “If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”

Women are perceived to be more risk-averse. But the reality is that women take a different kind of risk, for example, they like to stand up for what’s right in the face of opposition, or taking the ethical path when there’s pressure to stray.

In 1955, Rosa Parks was jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of Alabama’s racial segregation laws. Other instances of women risking their lives for a cause include:

• The Suffrage Movement
• The ‘Bra Burning’ Miss America Protest
• The Ladies’ Home Journal Sit-In
• The Equal Rights Amendment Marches
• Take Back the Night
• The Million Mom March
• The March for Women’s Lives
• Defiantly Driving in Saudi Arabia
• SlutWalk

Conclusion

If we close our eyes and try to imagine life 100 years ago, it was the end of WWI, we can see that women’s professional lives have improved a lot. One of the most important tools to create that change was the invention of the birth control pill. Instead of having the first baby at age 17, women could better coordinate their professional ambitions with family planning.

If we close our eyes again and try to imagine 100 years into the future, it’s easy to imagine a more egalitarian society in regards to the income gap between men and women.

To decrease the income gap between men and women, employers will be proactive and offer an environment where women can grow while being allowed to attend to their families. At the same time, women will be more daring; go into jobs that are male-dominated, take more risk, and start more entrepreneurial ventures of their own.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. There will be no pay equality today, or tomorrow, but we are moving in the right direction. Every day that passes we are moving to wards a fairer world.

Developing events:

Dec 8, 2020. Climbing the stairs of power. Forbes 100 most powerful women. It’s nice to see women going up the ranks of power in government and the corporate world. I would like to see more women in entrepreneurship, creating a brand new brand from zero.

Dec. 3o, 2020. Abortion. Argentina just legalized abortions. This gives women more control over their body and their future. Now an unwanted pregnancy doesn’t have to put an end to her professional life.

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