In 2023, women aged 16 to 24 earned 94 per cent of what men the same age earned and women 25 to 34 earned 89 per cent, while among workers 35 and over the range was 77 to 83 per cent. The gap is largely a second-half-of-career phenomenon, produced by compounding differences in progression, hours and time out rather than by one moment of unequal pay.
The shape
Near parity at entry, widening from the mid-thirties onward. That pattern has held for decades and it is the most useful single fact about the gap, because it points at when the divergence happens.
Why compounding does the work
Every increase is a percentage of the current number, so a small early difference grows in absolute terms every year without anyone deciding anything. A promotion delayed by two years is not a two-year cost; it is a permanently lower base against which all later increases are calculated.
What happens in those years
Caring responsibilities that fall unequally and affect hours, travel and availability for the stretch assignments that lead to promotion. Time out of the labor market, which interrupts both progression and pension accrual. Part-time work, which is far more common among women and is frequently a cul-de-sac for progression rather than a pause in it.
None of these are pay decisions, and all of them show up in pay.
Why it matters for how you read the number
Because a policy that equalizes starting salaries perfectly would leave most of this untouched. The divergence is happening later, in progression and hours, which is where an employer’s own data would show it if anyone looked.
What an individual can do about it
Notice the compounding early. A modest gap at thirty is a large one at fifty through arithmetic alone, so the moments that matter most are the earliest promotions and the return from any period out — which is exactly when people have least attention to spare for negotiating.
Common questions
Is the gap the same at all ages?
No. In 2023 women 16 to 24 earned 94 per cent of men the same age and those 35 and over between 77 and 83 per cent.
Why does it widen?
Compounding. Every increase is a percentage of the current number, so a small early difference grows in absolute terms each year.
What drives the divergence?
Progression, hours and time out of the labor market, which affect pay without being pay decisions.
Would equal starting salaries fix it?
Largely not, because most of the divergence happens later, in promotion timing and hours rather than at the offer.
When does it matter most individually?
At the earliest promotions and on return from any break — which is when most people have least attention to spare for it.