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Hot on the heels of Equal Pay Day, the Center for American Progress revealed data that shows 97 percent of American women are working full-time jobs that men are typically getting paid more money for.

The analysis is based on figures from 2011, and show that of the 534 professions listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women only earn more than men in seven of them. The number of women working those professions is 1.5 million, The Huffington Post says, or three percent of full-time women workers. “And even here, in the seven occupations that women do earn more, the wage difference is quite small,” the article continues.

The seven occupations where women are making more money than men are respiratory therapist ($62 per week), computer support specialist ($55), operations research analyst ($68), stock clerks and order fillers ($13), medical scientist ($25), bookkeeping/accounting/auditing clerks ($2), and packers ($1).

One expert from the Center for American Progress says the discrepancy is due, in part, to women not negotiating their salaries when they enter the working world.

So ladies, let’s start teaching the next generation of women to ask and negotiate right out of the gate.

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Do you feel a little more equal today?

There has been much data about the gender wage gap, but a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau stats breaks down the gap by the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas in all 50 states—and includes an analysis of the wage gap for African-American women and Latinas in the 20 states where they are the majority. The analysis is being released for Equal Pay Day, which marks how far into the new year women must work in order to catch up with what men were paid the year before. It was conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Here are some the disheartening findings: The cities with the largest gender-based, cents-on-the-dollar pay differences are the Seattle, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Detroit. And, the states with the largest cents-on-the-dollar differences are Wyoming, Louisiana, Utah, and West Virginia.

The report also found that nationally, women who hold full-time jobs are only paid the oft-quoted 77 cents for every dollar paid to men who hold full-time jobs. African-American women and Latinas fare worse, paid 64 cents and 55 cents, respectively, for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. This wage gap has been closing at a rate of less than half a cent per year since passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, said the report. This means that if things continue at this rate, women will not be paid equally for more than 40 years.

The findings looked at what the wage gap in each state and locality means in terms of women’s spending power, particularly on food, housing, and gas. This doesn’t bode well for the more than 15.1 million U.S. households headed by women, 31 percent of which fall below the poverty line, according to a press release.

While the study is enlightening, it is also staggeringly shocking. Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families agrees. “It is terribly disappointing that not a single state or metropolitan area has eliminated the wage gap that punishes women and their families. This new analysis illustrates how pervasive the gender-based wage gap is, and what it costs families,” said Ness in a press statement. “With most women serving as essential breadwinners for their families, the loss of this critical income has devastating consequences. Local, state and federal lawmakers should make ending gender discrimination in pay and promotions a much higher priority.”

Many are still pinning their hopes on the ability for the Paycheck Fairness Act to close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act, which is meant to help break harmful patterns of pay discrimination and establish stronger workplace protections for women. The bill, which has President Obama’s support, was reintroduced in Congress in January.  But more is needed, say advocates. The National Partnership and other advocates are calling on the president to issue an executive order on fair pay, which would set an example for the nation’s employers and help ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to support discriminatory pay practices.

Most women may think that they’re better at saving money than men. But the infographic below will show you otherwise.

Analysis conducted by SaveUp.com shows that men actually have thousands of dollars more saved, on average, in their 401Ks, IRA accounts, and other savings plans. But it’s not as simple as being more diligent about putting money to the side. The Braintrack.com infographic illustrates some of the reasons why women can’t save more, with things like the gender pay gap and the higher cost of insurance for women playing a role. The result, according to the site, is “The $849,000 Disadvantage For Being Female.”

Some of the suggestions to equalize this savings gap are to negotiate for higher pay and put your money in places where it can gain more return. What are you doing to maximize your savings?

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A 22-year-old company called Dice has conducted its annual survey and found that there is no gender pay gap in the tech industry. Can this be?

“Though men still make more than women, an average of $95,900 versus $87,500 for women, when you control for education, level of experience and parallel job titles, says Dice, men and women earn the same amounts,” says Forbes.

The article continues with a detailed breakdown of the different positions that men and women hold and the disparate pay between the genders. In every case, men are paid more than women. But time and again, Forbes says, it’s those factors that erase the inequality. For example, “IT management, the fourth-most-common job held by men, pays an average of $123,000, higher than any of the other jobs men hold, and well more than the jobs held by women. For women, the fourth-most-popular job, quality assurance tester, pays just $71,000.”

If what Dice says is true, it reveals great inequality in education and job status for women in the tech industry. Men are getting higher degrees and pursuing more lucrative areas and job titles in tech than women are. And the question is “Why?”

The article turns to the much-discussed issues that arise in Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In — women choose to raise families; they face discrimination in the workplace, and so forth. We wonder if it’s also an issue of time. You didn’t hear about a lot of women in the tech industry years ago, and women are still making inroads in the area. Could it be that as women become more of a presence in the tech industry, they’ll start to occupy these higher-paying and more prestigious positions? We think so.

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There’s a battle brewing in Congress over fair pay for women. And part of the “Paycheck Fairness Act,” introduced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), would also prohibit companies from retaliating against workers who discuss salary information. More importantly,the law would also require employers to provide evidence that any pay discrepancies among workers are unrelated to gender, reports The Huffington Post.

If there is transparency in how much workers are paid, employers won’t be able to “hide behind excuses for paying men more,” Mikulski argued in a statement on the Senate floor. The idea is there will be an increased focus on merit, with business results and job performance becoming the primary factor for determining pay.

According to a 2011 study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research cited by USA Today, women earn on average about 82 percent of what men make. And the gender wage gap is even bigger for minority women.

The Paycheck Fairness Act aims to expand the Lilly Ledbetter Act that President Obama signed into law in 2009. The Lilly Ledbetter Act gives workers more flexibility when suing employers over pay discrimination.

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It is a well-known fact that there still is a major gender pay gap. A new report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) concludes that part of the reason women working full-time earned only 82 percent on average of what their male peers earned just one year out of college is the choice of college majors.

“Men are more likely to study higher-paying specialties like engineering and computer science, while women are more likely to pursue lower-paying specialties like education and social sciences,” reports Forbes. The pay gap is also due to gender discrimination and salary negotiations differences. “Although women cannot avoid the pay gap completely, they can make choices that enhance their earning potential.” For example, Forbes looks at a report by Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce (CEW) which found that “the highest earning college major for both sexes ($120,000 for Petroleum Engineering) earns 314% more than the lowest earning major ($29,000 for Counseling Psychology), when comparing median earnings.”

Overall, having a STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) career indicates there will be higher pay. “The worst-paying college majors for women are Theology and Religious Vocations (median $33,000), Human Services and Community Organization (median $35,000), and Cosmetology Services and Culinary Arts (median $36,000),” Forbes continues.

STEM profession are really the way to go. According to a 2012 report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, “the demand will far outstrip the supply for these coveted graduates;” reports The Washington Post.

There is a continuing effort to get more women in STEM field, even from an early age. GoldieBlox, a girl-friendly engineering toy by Stanford engineering student Debbie Sterling, is designed to encourage little girls to become interested in engineering. The first GoldieBlox kit will hit stores in 2013. Even Barbie is hitting the STEM bandwagon. The new  Mega Bloks Barbie Build ´N Style was created to develop math and science skills in girls.

There has also been a push to get more blacks in STEM professions.  According to WaPo, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering has partnered with more than 50 universities nationwide to recruit, retain, and produce African American STEM graduates. The push is much-needed. Project Step-Up (STEM Trends in Enrollment and Persistence for Underrepresented Populations) data found that there has only been a two percent to three percent increase of African Americans in STEM professions over the past 30 years. “Last year, blacks received just 7 percent of STEM related Bachelor’s degrees, 4 percent of Master’s degrees and only 2 percent of doctorates,” the paper says.

According to CEW, here are five best-paying college majors for women:

No. 1: Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration
Percentage of women: 42%
Women’s median earnings: $100,000
Men’s median earnings: $110,000

No. 2: Information Sciences
Percentage of women: 26%
Women’s median earnings: $75,000
Men’s median earnings: $65,000

No. 3: Chemical Engineering
Percentage of women: 23%
Women’s median earnings: $72,000
Men’s median earnings: $92,000

No. 4: Computer Science
Percentage of women: 22%
Women’s median earnings: $70,000
Men’s median earnings: $79,000

No. 5: Electrical Engineering
Percentage of women: 7%
Women’s median earnings: $70,000
Men’s median earnings: $86,000

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The rate that women are earning degrees in higher education is up, but Forbes reports that women are still earning 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. The gap continues to grow smaller, but if you want to get a head start on which jobs offer women the highest pay rate, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has a few suggestions.

Pharmacist comes in at number one on the list. Women earn an average of $1,898 per week, about $99,000 a year. And women make up 56 percent of all pharmacists and earn almost the same as men in the field.

“Pharmacy is known for paying very well straight out of school and all the way through your career,” Katie Bardaro, lead economist at compensation research firm PayScale said to Forbes. “It’s a very good return on investment in terms of money and time spent on education.”

There are over 10,000 job openings in this field each year, and it’s expected to grow 25 percent by 2020. To land a job as a pharmacist, you must receive a four-year degree and pass licensing exams.

Gender equality doesn’t appear to be much of a reality when it comes to pay inside the White House. The 2011 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff shows that women earned about 18 percent less than men last year.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

“Female employees earned a median annual salary of $60,000, which was about 18 percent less than the median salary for male employees ($71,000).”

The author, Andrew Stiles, notes that some assumptions about an employees gender had to be made based on their name but says “when unclear, every effort was taken to determine the appropriate gender.”

This news is particularly damaging for two reasons. One, the democrats have been calling out republicans for their “war on women” in relation to the slew of restrictive reproductive proposals that have come from the party which means the GOP will no doubt see this as an opportunity to call dems out on the own type of war they’re waging.

The second issue is that when Barack Obama was just a presidential candidate in 2008, he was criticized for paying the women on his campaign staff less than the men, and less than his opponent John McCain paid his female staffers. Since he’s become president he has been rather outspoken about wanting to close the pay gap, although it appears that hasn’t happened just yet, despite issuing a statement on equal pay in 2010 that read:

“My Administration has already begun to address this problem. In my first week in office, I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women who face wage discrimination recover their lost wages, and in my State of the Union Address, I promised to crack down on violations of equal pay laws.”

It’s unclear whether some of the White House staff will come forth with lawsuits as a result of this report, but if President Obama doesn’t respond to this news soon, things will likely get very ugly.

Are you surprised women aren’t even earning an equal wage in the White House?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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