I should have known that it was our fault.

No wonder we earn less than men, dollar per dollar. It's not sexism. It's our own fault. We women are just suckers for a sad story.

At least, that's the explanation, according to this article:

Women in America earn less than men, a disparity that provokes plenty of discussion and debate. But a new study found that women themselves may be partly responsible for the pay gap.

Women professionals tend to charge less than men for the same work out of concern for relationships with clients, according to the study to be released this week at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management...

According to U.S. government statistics, overall, working women earn roughly 80 cents for every dollar a man makes.

Nice theory. But, how many women are actually in control of their own pay scale and the rates that they charge?

Notice how the article focuses on women veterinarians and mortgage brokers. Clearly, some women professionals likely have more control over how much they're paid than non-professionals. But, I would argue, and I think quite correctly, that the majority of women workers are paid on either an hourly basis or earn a salary that is determined by their bosses. That's pretty much a no-brainer.

Thus, the "conclusion" reached in the first sentence of the article is a completely baseless generalization. Until one determines what percentage of working women actually have a say in how much money that they earn as a result of fees that they set for their services, this particular study has little, if any, bearing the lower pay scale that women are subjected to in this country.

But, it's nice to see that the media has no problem spinning the story like crazy. I'm dizzy already.