I love this discussion.

 

Doing taxes, I was going through old records to find what my wife paid for the rental we sold last year.

 

She made more than I did in 2000 with no experience or education in her field (vs 12 years in my industry and a college education.)

 

Her 2016 W2 was about 5% of mine as a part time employee who only went back to work very late in the year.

 

Why?  Carrer progression vs leaving the workplace to be a mom.

 

Could she have had a six figure W2 in 2016 and stayed ahead of me?

 

Absolutely.  But only if she'd stayed on a career path.  We chose to take that route.  We happily gave up the income for her to be at home.  That was our choice.

 

She could have advanced much faster than I did and had much faster wage growth as she would have had more opportunities for advancement than I did.  Women and minorities are favored to fill positions vs white males when qualifications are equal.

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