April 12th, Equal Pay Day, is the symbolic day to show the additional time that women have to work to earn the same wage as a man earns in one year. About 102 days from January 1st, I learned this fact and was astonished by the amount of time only a few cents per dollar makes. But many people throw around numbers and tend to use extreme generalizations when talking about the wage gap. There are so many more facts not in the spotlight and a lot of misinformation all over the internet about the wage gap so I researched this topic extensively to find the truth.

FACT: WOMEN DO MAKE LESS THAN MEN AS AN OVERALL FIGURE

In 2015, female full-time workers made 79 cents to the dollar of their male counterparts as an average. Also, women in most careers with higher or average wages made less than men. Even with outside factors of childcare removed from the comparison of only similar lucrative occupations, the gap was still not zero. The gap does close to about 93 to 95 cents but regardless it is still there.

MYTH: WOMEN ALWAYS MAKE LESS THAN MEN

Not that most people believe such an idea but I would like to address it in more detail. As some would suspect, women tend to make more than their male counterparts in female dominated education and healthcare jobs. Women actually earn a median of $474 a week compared to male's $453 a week salary in the education field. But women also tend to earn more than men in some lucrative jobs such as therapists, dietitians, and health technicians. Women actually even make more than men in male dominated fields such as construction, maintenance, and mechanics. But according to Professor Caren Goldberg of the American University's business school, "Both sexes [usually] fare better when they are in the minority."

MYTH: WOMEN JUST CHOSE LESS LUCRATIVE JOBS WHICH CAUSES FOR THE GAP

While some of the more common jobs for women (Nursing, Teacher, Human Resources) tend to have a smaller salary than common jobs for men (Software Developer, Construction Manager, Computer Systems Administrators) this is not the only reason for the wage gap. Even with the comparison of only similar jobs, the wage gap is not zero although it is considerably less.

MYTH: ALL WOMEN EARN ABOUT 79 CENTS PER EVERY DOLLAR COMPARED TO MEN

This is one fact that will get tossed around by politicians but is not the whole truth. It is definitely too large of a generalization. Studies have been conducted to receive an average of female-male comparison and that is all this number is. African-American women, Asian-American women, Latin-American women, and Native American women make even less than the average woman makes. And Latin American women tend to get it the worst, only making around 50 cents or less to a male's dollar in most of the states in the country!

FACT: MANY WOMEN’S PAY GROWTH IS EFFECTED BY HAVING CHILDREN

Women's wage growth tends to outpace men's wage growth at about the age of 30. This is about the time when most college educated women have children. Regardless of this being a correct fact, women never make considerably more than men before that (only about $10,000 more at the age of 22) and if anything, it might have to do with discrimination against women with children in the workforce as well.

MYTH: ALL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SUPPORT CLOSING THE WAGE GAP

While most do, there are some politicians who simply think this is not an issue. Hillary Clinton has stated that this "impacts families and the broader economy" and during her time as senator, she sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Although there has been some reports that even her staff has been paid less while she was in public office. Bernie Sanders has also openly advocated for the Paycheck Fairness Act as well as stating that the wage gap is "Shameful." Ted Cruz has noted that women do face struggles in the work force but his overarching support is not there. He did not vote against the Paycheck Fairness Act the first time it came up but later voted with party lines against the bill the second time. Donald Trump has constantly changed his views on this issue. He has stated that women should get "equal pay for equal work" but then later added that this was an issue on all the women of America not doing as equal quality of a job. Lastly, John Kasich has blamed the issue on "other factors" and "experience" and it was also found out by a newspaper that women were earning almost $10 less than men in his campaign office.

MYTH: THERE IS NOT ANY DISCRIMINATION TOWARDS MEN

Although the discrimination against women tends to be more prominent and therefore is more prominent in the media, this does not mean all men are paid equally. In 2013 it was found that African-American men were making 75 cents and Hispanic men were making only 67.2 cents to a White male's dollar. Hispanic and Black men were even making about 10 cents less than White women. Also in the National Committee on Pay Equity and the Bureau of Labor Statistics's research it has been shown that the wage gap has actually grown for Black men slightly since the 1990s.

FACT: THE WAGE GAP IS IMPORTANT AND IS A FORM OF DISCRIMINATION

In the year 2016, women (and men) are still fighting for equality. And although everyone has come a long way, there still is much more we all can do as a society. I hope to one day live in a society where discrimination like this isn't known to anyone, especially to women.