Pay for males – Pay for females
___________________________________ x 100
Pay for males
It doesn't take into account what kind of job the person is doing, where they are working, in which industry, work experience, etc. Just median hourly pay across everything with no nuance.
It's like comparing a newbie and a senior by median pay and claiming they should be paid the same because they are human.
I feel like the simplistic representation is the right one here.
Women are earning less on average due to a multitude of reasons. Some are an issue, some are not. Who is to decide which reasons should be accounted for in this percentage and which ones shouldn't?
I have seen plenty of statistics where they calculate the percentage down to the immediate difference between men and women in exactly the same positions with exactly the same experience levels. But that removes the very crucial fact that some positions simply aren't equally accessible to women, even if the ones who make it in do get a fair pay compared to their male peers.
It's like comparing a newbie and a senior by median pay and claiming they should be paid the same because they are human.
I'm not going to engage in the typical internet "Oh so you're saying ...!" thing, but damn, read that sentence again and think about why it might not apply to this situation.
I feel like the simplistic representation is the right one here.
Life isn't simple nor is this issue. Nearly anything can be misrepresented if boiled down a simplistic view. For example "foreigners aren't from here, so they don't belong here" is a simplistic take with a simplistic conclusion which is able to galvanise a good portion of society.
At this point its just stupid to call it a "pay" gap. There hasnt been a statistically relevant pay gap in western countries with gender equality laws for a long time. What does exist is discrimination and a hiring/promotion gap. Proponents of the term "pay gap" are just shooting themselves in the foot by refusing to actually name the thing that they are fighting for.
The issue is deeper too. As mentioned in another comment, women are often found in jobs that have low pay to start with, regardless of sex. One has to find out why that happens as well as why those jobs are paid so badly. "Because women" is not an explanation as the "solution" could either be "fire all women" or "hire more men", but that's barely an attempt at analysing nor solving the issue.
Replace junior and senior by "less experienced" and "more experienced" if you like. The example is to show that apples aren't being compared to apples.
Do you even know how big a number they are dealing with?
If the assumpion of equal capability is valid (and it's a SMALL if), you should always get a much smaller gap.
Which doesn't say anything. Nobody throws a dart at the board and picks a job that way. It is undeniable that women are often found in jobs like healthcare, retail and education (source). One could have the simplistic take of "just get another job, duh", but a lot goes into career-path decisions from upbringing, to social perception, and opportunity. Things aren't just that simple, so taking such a simplistic formula to draw up a complicated plan is the wrong way to go about it.