The gender pay gap is real, but people make it seem more straightforward than it is.

Instead of blaming discriminatory bosses or specific notorious industries that exclude and underpay women, it’s time we look at the broader structural issues that lead to women’s work being undervalued and underrespected.

Yes, women are more likely to enter careers that pay less, like nursing, teaching, customer service, cleaning, administrative work and child care. 

Those are all necessary jobs in society, though. The world could not function without them, and everyone in these fields should get paid enough to care for themselves and their dependents.

Child care and cleaning are manual labor jobs in their own right. Carrying kids, laundry baskets and scrubbing floors requires physical effort and takes a toll on your body and mental health.

But when workers in these fields ask for more pay or benefits, they’re told to sit down by both their bosses and society at large. 

You should have chosen a different job, people tell them. Maybe you should have taken a job in a male-dominated industry you’re not passionate about. 

Instead of cooking, cleaning, taking care of and teaching children, you should have planned to sit in meetings all day and talk about banking and loans or derivatives. Maybe you should have done something more ‘respectable,’ like finance, or ghostwriting LinkedIn posts.

I hear so many stories about teachers changing students’ lives, but I’ve never heard anyone say an investment banker saved their life or helped them find a reason to keep going. Yet I can guarantee an investment banker is paid better.

Expecting someone to change their life’s passion so they can be better paid and more respected is bad career advice that only perpetuates occupational segregation based on gender.

Women and nonbinary people shouldn’t be expected to take on jobs and traits perceived as “male” just because they want to get paid a fair amount of money for their labor. 

They are also more likely to face gender-based harassment in male-dominated fields, so it feels unfair to expect them to endure that treatment just for a better check.

People’s salaries aren’t just a reflection of amorphous market forces and bad individual choices. They speak to what our society actually values. 

Someone has to take care of children, and anyone who does it will tell you it’s not easy work. But because child care is an industry dominated by women, it does not pay well.

Being a secretary used to be an esteemed profession dominated by men. Statesmen have always depended on record keepers and assistants, which is why secretary shares the same root as secret, and why the president’s cabinet is still full of “secretaries.”

But as the industry filled with women, people perceived administrative work as easy, leading to secretaries and office staff being overworked and underpaid.

Regardless if a job is considered traditionally done by women or men, whoever’s doing it deserves fair wages for their labor, and also union representation for good measure.

People should feel free to pursue their passions without being penalized for their identity.