Legitimately, the articles I've seen on the pay gap today are a little skewed. 50 years since the Equal Pay Act was signed by Kennedy (1963), the wage gap has only changed half-cent per year. Women only make 77 cents for every dollar men make. This is raced and classes. What this means is women on average per men on average. The pay gap is much narrower between white educated men and women and likewise between black women and men, but the pay gap between Latina women and white men is vast. That is not to say that the pay gap between white men and women is unimportant, just to qualify what this kind of information means.
Yes, men and women make different decisions, but other times not so much. For example, given the attacks on reproductive choice and a return to "traditional" values leaves women with less choice. Women are expected to choice career or family and then take the consequences like lower pay or time off from their careers. This reminds us of the whole "motherhood debate" that we're dealing with again. Care work performed in the home is not considered real work, this translates to the low wages we pay care workers, but also women finding these choices difficult. More and more this is less of an issue just for women, men are choosing to be stay at home dads. Of course race and class comes into play as well. Poor people do not have either of these options.
Additionally, the research does not support the "mancession."It just doesn't. But I'll humor this discussion anyway. If we take this as true, women are being hired at a higher rate than men because of the recession, shouldn't we address the fact that companies are seeking low-wage labor? Pay equity is totes difficult to prove, just ask Lilly Ledbetter. While her situation resulted in a federal law, she didn't actually win the federal case, though she did win in the states.
The reality is unequal pay is a symptom, not the whole problem. The larger problem is sexism, classism, racism, etc.
