GiantSteps
The gender pay gap is complicated. Which is why some people refute it.
They are all sorts of different strands. Yes women who have children suffer 'the mummy penalty', but women of the same age who don't have children also suffer the same penalty.
Women's jobs are undervalued and under paid. Raising the next generation is done for free! Part time work is often the only option for the caregiver, which is almost always women. So to equal that, companies would have to increase paternity leave and encourage men to be caregivers. Something that society resolutely refuses to do.
It's not an equal pay gap, it's a gender pay gap. And yes many companies still routinely pay women less than men for the same job. See the BBC, headteachers.
It's worth googling to get a handle on it. Or, do an advanced search on here with gender pay gap as the title. Mumsnet is the best for advice!
As for living under a patriarchy. Two women are week are killed by their partners. Not men. One in five women have suffered rape or sexual assault. Not men. Women are killed, purely for being women.
98% of sexually violent crime is committed by men. Not women. 90% of violent crime is committed by men. Not women.
When women together to talk about issues that affect them, it is protested violently. By men. Those very same men say they deserve it.
Men and women are socialised differently from birth. See the BBC programme no more boys and girls.
The girls said the only thing they could do better than boys was look pretty. By seven years of age they had low self-esteem.
So girls jobs were hairdressers and housewives, boys jobs were astronauts and presidents. This is what the children thought.
Well done for taking it on. People can blind you with what sounds like a sensible argument. But the more you read about it, the quicker you can formulate your thoughts and it becomes more automatic.