Why do females expect to earn less?

I just read an article on Yahoo! Finance's "Experts" page that summarized findings of a recent survey of American teenagers. One point was that the "gender gap" is thriving. Teenage males expect to earn upwards of $174,000, while teenage females expect to earn less than $114,000 a year. Two thirds of the teens (both genders) also said that they believe women generally earn less than men.





I disagree with the author about the root of these findings. I don't think that young women expect or believe they'll earn less than young men if they take the same jobs and work just as hard. I think that women are (unconsciously perhaps) less ambitious than young men. Women don't seem to expect or plan to spend much time in the workforce, to support a family, or even to support their own desired lifestyles--and their salary expectations reflect that. Which may be why many of my smart, female, finance-major friends took low paying jobs in HR and event planning.





What do you think?

Why do females expect to earn less?
There are three factors, I think:





(1) Women tend to take more time off from their careers to raise a family than men do. This knocks them off of the career track and puts them behind men of the same age.





(2) Women tend to get college degrees that are less lucrative than the degrees men get (this isn't a universal truth, just a general trend).





(3) Companies will favor young men over young women for a long-term position because they assume the woman is going to take time off for a family (even if she actually has no interest in doing so). It's a gender stereotype and isn't fair to the individual, but there it is.





The fact is that more women take maternity leave than men who take paternity leave, so this *is* evidence -- not conclusive proof, but evidence -- that women are less ambitious in their careers. That's a general statement and there are obviously exceptions -- some women are going to be far more ambitious than most men. But in general, men are still more career oriented and therefore expect -- and receive -- higher salaries.
Reply:1) I expect to earn less because I plan on only working very part time after my baby is born (of course I think the value of being able to care for my child is worth much more than money).





2) Stats show women today do earn less than their male counterparts doing the same work. There is definitely an element of women not wanting to be as confrontational as men, and so many could earn just as much if they just bucked up and asked for the raise (even if it means being a little confrontational). Up to this point in my career, I have made it a point to ask for raises to try to overcome this, but I admit, it's been difficult for me to do.
Reply:We are not less ambitous but through time most of us want children and stuff, i wouldn't expect to earn less than a man in the same job i would be expecting the same, I earn more than my partner although only a few thousand a year it is still more. Girls still think of their mothers staying at home perhaps, but the world is changing and women are becoming more career driven so hopefully women will become more confident is speaking up about what they should earning