Hey, Ladies, Why Aren't You Just Choosing Higher-Paying Jobs?

Very smart of men to have done that all along, amirite.

Great news, everyone! Conservative MP Joan Crockatt has solved the wage gap.

NBC / Via popsugar.com

Crockatt's solution is pretty simple: all us ladies just need to pick higher-paying jobs.

Global News / Via globalnews.ca

“Women are choosing professions that aren’t as high-paying, and some of that is completely understandable and by choice, but if women want higher paying jobs, those jobs are out there waiting for them,” Crockatt said, according to Global News.

She made the comments after the announcement of funding for the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association. The money is for a program to help immigrant women who chose to work in the food services industry.

Crockatt, who serves on the Status of Women committee, encouraged women to enter traditionally male-dominated fields.

“We know we have a shortage of skilled labour in this province. Hello women, there’s your opportunities,” she said.

While it's true that men typically enter higher-paid fields, data would suggest the situation is more complicated than choosing a career path.

The Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives (CCPA) recently released a study ranking the best cities across the country for women. The difference in wages between men and women was one of the deciding data points.

Here's what women make compared to men in different cities, according to the report:

• St. John's: 79%
• Halifax: 70%
• Montreal: 77%
• Toronto: 84%
• Winnipeg: 76%
• Saskatoon: 64%
• Calgary: 65%
• Vancouver: 84%
• 
  
  You can see the full rankings here.
  
  "The reality is Canada has a gender gap. Even working full time, women continue to bring home 20% less than the men that work beside them," the report said.

And even then, we're grouping all women together. Statistics show that aboriginal women, women of colour and new immigrants can make significantly less than white women in Canada.

CCPA

This chart from the CCPA study show the difference in income in Saskatoon in 2011 for full-time workers.

And those in-demand, male-dominated career paths? Women still make less.

Supapornss / Getty Images

Study author Kate McInturff told Global that women make 65% less than men in full-time mining, oil and gas jobs.

Even in female-dominated jobs like nursing and teaching, men earn more.

Various reasons have been suggested as to why women are less likely to enter more lucrative STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers, including discouraging teachers and institutional sexism.

Fuse / Getty Images

One study of women of colour in STEM found that 100% of them had experienced bias.

But choices, ok?

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