Women in the workforce are still struggling to catch up with men in terms of salary.  This is evidently true in the legal world.  The ABA Journal reported yesterday on a gender-based pay gap study that was released by University of Michigan Law.  The results present several disparities in the amount of pay women get when compared to men in the legal field.  This, of course, is nothing new, but the results of this study demonstrated pay differences due to parental status.

Women attorneys who are mothers seem to get the short-end of the stick every which way.   Firstly, they are compensated thirty-five percent less than attorneys who are fathers.  Moreover, father attorneys make fifteen to twenty percent more than non-father attorneys.  If you'd assume that women lawyers with children get paid more childless women, you'd be mistaken.  On average, mom attorneys are paid ten to fifteen percent less than those women who are not mothers.

There are many theories on the reasons these pay discrepancies exist.  One of the main presumptions is that men are traditionally the sole breadwinners of a family and therefore hold more responsibility.  It is hard for society to escape this traditional stereotype, even though it is surely not accurate enough to make judgments upon.  The reality is that women today, have just as many (if not more) responsibilities as men, especially if they are mothers.  If women have go through the same amount of school as men, and work just as hard, they should not see such extreme differences in pay.  Nor should they see differences because they choose to have children.  While the study produced disappointing results, it is important not to forget how far women have come in the twentieth century and the potential that exists for the future.