Why do women earn less than men?

In this project you will look at the data on women's and men's pay and explore reasons for the pay differential.

Based on the sites below, compile a list of the five most important statistics that you find. Explain why each statistic is important.

Go to the U.S. Department of Labor's "Women's earning: an overview"
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1999/12/art2full.pdf

For a journalistic summary see "Another Day, Another 75 Cents" in The Christian Science Monitor at: http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/07/17/fp7s1-csm.htm

Prepare a list of explanations for the pay differential based on these sources.
For an argument that the problem is discrimination (and therefore needs government response) see the Center for Policy Alternatives at: http://www.stateaction.org/issues/issue.cfm/issue/EqualPay.xml

For an argument that discrimination is not to blame see Howard J. Wall at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: http://www.stls.frb.org/publications/re/2000/d/pages/economic-backgnd.html
Or, "Stll Hyping the Phony Pay Gap" by Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a resident fellow with the American Enterprise Institute at:
http://www.aei.org/news/newsID.11344/news_detail.asp

Choose the two most plausible explanations from the list above. Summarize the data in support of these two explanations.