&gt; why do the choices that women (or any given group) make result in them being paid less overall?<p>If you pick a low-valued career, you will probably be paid less. No need to bring in gender here... movers are mostly men, and they&#x27;re also low-value.<p>&gt; Should they essentially be punished for those choices, particularly when you consider the power that money buys?<p>It&#x27;s not punishment. They willingly give up the power of money by picking a career that earns less. If someone wants the power of money, pick a different career. Again, gender doesn&#x27;t matter.<p>&gt; Are some of the occupations that are dominated by women undervalued and underpaid, such as teaching and nursing?<p>Yes, but it has nothing to do with the dominating gender. Those fields are just under appreciated... it&#x27;s a societal problem if we under value those professions, but (again) gender doesn&#x27;t matter. Male nurses suffer the same problem.<p>It seem what you should be asking is: Are women inherently biased to pick these nurturing roles, and is this because of societal or biological pressures? If it&#x27;s biological, is society responsible for correcting the economic imbalance by effectively subsidizing those roles? Should we accept that some careers are valued less, make this very obvious during formative years (highschool&#x2F;college), encourage rational decision making, and accept any natural gender imbalances that result?