According to National Women’s Law Center, American women who work full-time earn 79 cents for every dollar a man earns.

This means women have to work almost three months more in order to match what a man in the same position makes in one year.

I’ve always been under the impression that the reason women weren’t receiving equal pay was because they were just not asking for raises, too afraid to look assertive or not wanting to create tension.

I thought women work lower paying jobs, or worked more part-time positions. This was the sad conclusion I had come to, accepting this depressing truth.

However, a recent study has taken place which proves this might not be the case.

A recent study by the Cass Business School, the University of Warwick in the U.K. and the University of Wisconsin, found that men are 25 percent more likely to receive a raise when asking for one.

One of the study’s authors, Andrew Oswald, a professor of economics at the University of Warwick, stated,  “having seen these findings, [I] think we have to accept that there is some element of pure discrimination against women.”

The researchers conducted their study in Australia, since it’s the only country that collects data about workers asking for raises.

According to Oswald, Australia was highly likely to be a representative of behavior in other major economies.

The good news is this research shows my assumptions were wrong, and there is an underlying factor that is contributing to the problem that isn’t just women being “too scared.”

The bad news is this validates our worst fears, women are still being discriminated against in the workplace.

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, if women started receiving equal pay immediately, it would result in an annual $447.6 billion gain nationally for women and their families.

As hard as this is to believe, it seems as though this is still the uncomfortable reality we live in.
It may not be something college students think about right now, but this gap affects women’s retirement in social security and pensions.

This is our future we are gambling with, and we need to set ourselves up for success.
I’m planning to graduate from college in the next two years, and when I begin my career I expect to receive the same pay as any man with my same degree and qualifications.
We’re making some progress, the gender wage gap is the narrowest we have ever seen, but there is still so much more we can do.

Let’s get the conversation started, both women and men.

Let our generation be the ones to come up with a way to bridge this gap and move forward.