Americans overwhelmingly think that the pay gap, when explained as women making 82 cents on the dollar compared with men, is unfair. It turns out to be more complicated, though, because the supposed pay differences morph tremendously when you control for occupation, experience, education, hours worked, and so on. But one piece is not complicated: Who we’re talking about when we say “women.”
We must define “women” if we hope to understand what’s happening in the workplace and do something about it. Are women being discriminated against? Are there social factors at play, like women choosing jobs with flexibility? How does motherhood affect hours worked, career choice, and pay? Answering these questions requires a fixed definition of “woman” based on biology.
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