reason the pay gap is so stark is that so many of the jobs of “care” in this country (teaching, nursing and home healthcare, food services, housekeeping, and childcare) pay the worst. This essential support is perceived as low-authority, low-status “women’s work,” of lesser value. (Men in the care categories typically outearn women, a double slap.)[*9] Culturally, we don’t think that “women’s work” is valuable, productive, or important, and we pay accordingly.
