you gave me a worse reply than what i was already expecting.  firstly, the wage gap absolutely exists, but is not as extreme as women make 77% as much as men. well, that is true, but it's the national average, which isn't a useful measure in the context it's usually used to debate in. rather, looking at how much women make vs men in a particular career. you'll find that a wage gap typically exists on the order of 5-10 cents on the dollar. sometimes wages are extreme, like 15-20 cents (like