Re: Like for like figures please
Alain Willians: Exactly what you say. I'd like to point those Reg readers with some time to spare to videos with Dr. Jordan Peterson, who explains the background of the pay gap, which doesn't seem to interest anyone who fights to close it. Basically what Peterson says is that women on average are more reasonable and balanced than men (I like to interpret it as women not wanting to compare membership length all the time), which is why they don't see the sum on their paycheck as the thing that defines their life.
In the country where I work the personal income tax is veeery progressive. Which means once you reach a certain level, you either have to negotiate an impossibly large raise, or the raise you get goes to the taxman (paying there and similar programs) and not to you. So instead of one year's raise I asked for an introductory course for steel welding. Which, for some health and safety reasons got me entered in the company system as a welder instead of a dev, but I kept everything else, including my pay (I actually spent two hours thrice a week in the welding workshop, which time I didn't clock in - it was enough that the company paid all the necessary gear and instructors). So there I was, a welder who apparently negotiated a dev's pay, just to spice the stats a bit. Only to return two months later to being a dev who's paid very modestly, because there are more interesting and important things in my life than to pay more taxes. Perhaps I'm a woman in that aspect, and if I am, I don't mind at all.